Surrounded
by Julesyo
Summary: Ichigo, Toshiro, Renji & Rukia are sent to Hogwarts on a secret mission. They befriend the students, but the Ministry discovers the existence of shinigami and things get dangerous. Meanwhile, Ichigo's still struggling in a battle against himself. No yaoi.
1. Start of the mission

**ok, this is my first fanfic so go easy on me! I don't even know how this site even works...**

**I've been reading HP/Bleach crossovers for a while now, but sometimes the way the plot turns, or the pairings or something- well, I just don't like. So I'm taking control now, with **_**my **_**fav characters and pairings and plot!**

**It starts out like your typical Bleach/HP crossover, but there's a pre-story twist!**

* * *

"CAPTAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIN!" yelled a voice behind Hitsugaya Toushiro. A very familiar voice. He turned around.

"What do you want Matsu-" he was cut off by his rather busty vice-captain attacking him.

"Aagh…" he tried to protest, but he couldn't breathe, she was hugging him so tightly to her chest. Smothered, he continued to struggle. He could faintly hear a laughing noise from the doorway.

"Haha, you know, Captain Hitsugaya, some guys would kill to be in your position right now," said Renji Abarai.

Toushiro snarled in response, a vein twitching angrily in his temple. "If you're still there by the time I get out of here, Abarai, you're dead meat."

"That is _if_ you ever get out of there, Captain," said Matsumoto in a sing-song voice, still squishing his face into her breasts.

"All right, Matsumoto, I think that's enough. We can't have him dead for the mission, can we now?" came yet another voice from the doorway. Although Rukia Kuchiki spoke in a stern voice, she was obviously trying not to laugh.

Rangiku Matsumoto reluctantly let go of her captain and sighed in defeat. "Sorry, I guess I'm just a bit jealous. It sounds like such a fun mission you're going on! Why can't I come?"

Toushiro Hitsugaya emerged, a bit red in the face and his vein still twitching. "For the last time, Matsumoto, sending too many people would attract too much attention. Besides, you definitely don't look like a teenager," he explained, glancing at her figure.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Rangiku asked innocently.

Toushiro was still red in the face. "You know what it means! Shut up!"

"If I look too old for the mission, you definitely look too young, you know?"

"I said shut up! Honestly, I'm worrying about how our squad's going to be with you in charge while I'm gone."

"But I want to go to a magic school! Just to see what it's like! Only you, Renji and Rukia are going anyway," she protested.

"Firstly, it's way too late to suddenly change the plans. Secondly, a fourth member is already coming with us. Five would be too many."

"Oh...really? Who?"

"Were you not listening to the meeting?"

"Well after he explained the mission, I kind of started daydreaming..."

"Ugh."

00000

Ichigo's eyebrows pinched together. "What in the world…?" He had hardly even started his mission and had already hit a dead end.

He swore under his breath. Today was definitely not a good day for him.

Of course, he had known that. He'd known when Soul Society had given him the mission. He'd known when his father had beaten him up early in the morning yesterday so he could catch the plane to England. He'd known when he saw his shopping list for school. He'd known when a 'magical' chicken was juggling watermelons while calculating the price of nutmeg and exploded in his face.

He remembered staring into the alley where he was to do his school shopping. It was filled with people of all shapes and sizes wearing odd clothing and carrying odd items. A couple people looked at his bright orange hair and muttered, 'Weasley' although he had no idea why. The place was called Diagon Alley, though he'd immediately thought that a more appropriate name would be 'Weirdville'. The school had lent him some money and he had stayed at a place called the Leaky Cauldron overnight. There, he'd had the opportunity to observe the magical community.

And he had concluded that the majority were nutcases.

Although he wouldn't mind abandoning this mission, Ichigo Kurosaki stood there contemplating what to do next. After all, he'd went through all the trouble of lying to his family about going to a boarding school in England and going on a plane and finding Diagon Alley and getting the required necessities for school- yes, it was better if he stayed and tried to figure out what to do. At least until eleven o'clock anyways, which was when his train to the school would be leaving. Then he'd be allowed to give up.

He looked down and glared holes into his train ticket. No matter how he looked at it, it still looked as if it said 'Platform 9 3/4'. But that was impossible. Of course, he'd seen a lot of 'impossible' things, many of them occurring yesterday in Diagon Alley.

Ichigo took his trolley with his suitcase and, making sure his chain link bracelet was still on, went around King's Cross station seeking help. His bracelet had come with the letter about the mission. It was a really long letter, explaining everything to know about the magical world, and then elaborating on what he was expected to do. The bracelet given to him gave him a decent vocabulary of the English language, seeing as he could only pronounce a few words in the language.

"-through the barrier, now." His thoughts were interrupted by someone only a few feet away from him. He swiveled his head around to find the source of the voice.

His eyes landed on a rather plump but pleasant looking red-haired lady. She appeared to be rushing someone. Namely, a boy about his age with jet black hair and green eyes, who was looking rather embarrassed. The reason why was clear. Everyone in the station appeared to be looking at him. There was a humongous black dog jumping on him and licking his face, although from far away, it could seem as though it might accidently eat him.

"For goodness sakes Sirius, act like a dog!" he heard someone hiss. After saying goodbye to some companions, the boy walked towards what appeared to be a solid wall. Ichigo's eyes widened as he stared. The boy had disappeared.

Ichigo then turned his attention towards the boy's other companions. They took turns walking towards the wall and disappearing, until only the lady was left. Realizing this could be his last chance, he called out to her in desperation.

"Um, excuse me, but I'm new to all this and I was wondering…"

The woman interrupted him. "How to get onto the platform?"

"Well, yes."

The woman gave him a friendly smile and said, "You see that wall over there?" she gestured towards the one everyone had disappeared by. Ichigo nodded. "Just walk right into it. That's right, no need to be afraid, then."

Ichigo scratched his head nervously. It's okay, he told himself, just don't think about it. He cleared his mind and with his trolley, walked swiftly into the wall. Then he blinked his eyes a few times. In front of him was a whole crowd of people dressed in odd clothing which he could now recognize. It was very loud and a scarlet train was blowing out steam. The front read, "Hogwarts Express".

_Huh. Well that was kind of easy_, he thought to himself.

He noticed the boy from earlier walking into the train with a red-haired boy and a brunette who were talking amiably. He followed before he could lose sight of them.

After getting rid of his luggage, he followed the three in front of him from a distance. Everyone seemed to be leaning out of their seats to get a better look at them. He realized that they were probably famous or something, seeing as they had had escorts just to get on a train. He looked around. None of the faces looked familiar. He didn't know who else had been sent on the mission from Soul Society, but he wasn't too sure he wanted to meet them right away. After all, he had been avoiding Soul Society for a while. He would have to find an empty compartment to talk to them in private.

Which was definitely easier said than done. Most of the compartments were full of people. He abandoned finding an empty one and just tried to find the least crowded. He looked around, but they all seemed to be crammed. Finally, he spotted one with just three people in it. He recognized the boy from earlier but he wasn't with the two friends he had boarded the train with. One of the other strangers, a boy, was round-faced and kind of nervous looking. The girl had a very dreamy look that you could see even with her odd-coloured spectacles on her face. But neither of them looked intimidated by the apparently famous boy sitting across from them. And neither was Ichigo, since he didn't even know who he was.

"Hey," he said, entering the small room. "Mind if I sit here?"

Harry Potter was surprised. Most of the students had seemed nervous around him as he walked down the train. This guy that had just entered had a relaxed tone, like he was talking to some good friends. But Harry preferred it that way. He was tired of all the publicity and stupid nonsense about him being crazy, as if he didn't get enough gossip about him already.

"Yeah sure," he smiled.

Ichigo nodded in response, tossed his bag up and sat down on the seat beside Harry by the window. He gazed out the window, lost in thought. He wondered if they would send Rukia on the mission. If they did, he was dead. She was probably super angry at him for avoiding her for three months since they got back from Hueco Mundo.

Hueco Mundo. The place where he had served Aizen, his worst enemy, for two months, after being brainwashed. Of course, he wouldn't have been brainwashed if it hadn't been for his own stupidity in wanting to find a way to control his inner hollow...

Harry scrutinized Ichigo. "I don't recognize you," he said. "Are you new?"

Ichigo gave a start after being awakened from his thoughts. Looking at Harry, he nodded. "I'm a transfer student," he replied, marveling at how well he could speak English. "I'm not sure which ones will be coming, but some of my former classmates are transferring with me as well. My name's Ichigo Kurosaki. Who are you?"

"Pleasure to meet you. I'm Luna Lovegood," said the girl who, Ichigo noticed, seemed to have a permanently dazed look on her face which was framed with long silvery-blond hair.

"Neville Longbottom," said the round-faced boy.

"Harry Potter," Harry muttered, waiting for the reaction. It never came. Ichigo greeted him with as much confidence as the other two. Harry was relieved. He grinned at the new transfer student. "So what year are you going to be in?"

"Fifth year I think," Ichigo stated, remembering what the letter had told him.

"Really?" Neville said. "That's the same year we're all in! Do you know what house you're in?"

"Uh… What?"

"You know, Slytherin, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw? Ring any bells?"

"Hmm…nope, sorry," Ichigo said. "No idea what you're talking about."

As Neville explained about the four houses, Ichigo began to worry. What if he was separated from the other shinigami that were assigned for this mission? They wouldn't be able to communicate very easily, and from the way Neville told it, some of the houses were rivals. That would make talking difficult.

In the middle of Neville's explanation, the door suddenly banged open. Everyone but Luna jumped and stared at the people that had just come in.

The first one had tattoos plastered across the top of his face and bright red hair that was put up in a ponytail. His muscles were nothing to joke about either. He definitely didn't look like someone to mess with. In comparison, the other two looked tiny next to him. One of them, a raven-haired girl, just came up to his shoulder, as did the silver-haired boy, who hardly looked older than eleven.

Instantly recognizing them, Ichigo muttered under his breath that sounded strangely like, "Oh, crud; I'm in trouble."

The moment the strangers (well, strangers to the poor Hogwarts students watching in amazement) spotted him, two of them leapt at Ichigo, pounding and strangling every part of him they could reach.

"Agh, no…Rukia…Renji…stop…" was all that could be heard from Ichigo in the blur of colours. All Harry and Neville could do was to look on in bewilderment.

"That's enough," said a cold voice by the door. "I think he's learned his lesson."

The punching immediately stopped, although Rukia and Renji were still holding onto Ichigo by his collar.

"Aww, come one, Hitsugaya!" pleaded Rukia, her violet eyes flashing with anticipation. "Just one more?"

Renji nodded enthusiastically in agreement.

"Fine," Hitsugaya sighed "Just one more, as my present to Kurosaki."

Ichigo rolled his eyes as Renji wound up for the finale. Harry tried to open his mouth to say something, but-

"Just what do you think you're doing?" exclaimed an astonished female voice behind them.

Renji turned his head and narrowed his eyes but he didn't change his position. "Who are you?"

"Hermione Granger, prefect of Gryffindor house and this is Ronald Weasley," The bushy-haired brunette said, gesturing towards the redhead Ichigo saw earlier. He was looking rather embarrassed like he'd rather not be there. "And lower your fist, exchange student."

Sighing, both Rukia and Renji reluctantly let go of Ichigo and smiled politely. "It's alright," Rukia said, still smiling. "We have all year."

Ichigo rolled his eyes again. He could already feel a bruise forming on his right cheek. Whatever. He'd had worse before.

The prefect, however, glared at them. "Are you alright?" she asked Ichigo "That bruise looks pretty bad."

Ichigo smirked. "Trust me, I have had worse."

And he had. So had the other transfer students, or rather, the other_ shinigami_. Near-death experiences weren't uncommon among them.

"Hmph. All right then," Hermione said as she sat down on Harry's other side.

Toushiro sat beside Rukia, who was seated next to Neville. Renji squished in between them and Ron sat next to Hermione. Ichigo stayed where he was, rubbing his face gingerly.

Rukia noticed. "Don't worry, Ichigo, there's plenty more where that came from." She smiled with an evil gleam in her eye.

"Hmph. I don't believe they actually chose you guys to come here," Ichigo replied sourly although he really was glad. He had missed Rukia and he got along well with Toushiro and Renji. Plus, compared to the other shinigami in the Gotei 13 they probably looked the most like the teenagers they were acting as. Of course, Ichigo _was _15 years old. He wasn't acting anything. But the others from Soul Society were (in the technical sense) much, much older than him.

"Hey, what kind of greeting is that? We don't see each other for three months and that's all you can say? Honestly Ichigo, you make me sad," Rukia cried melodramatically, although Ichigo didn't buy it.

"What about your greeting, huh? It's not like that was any better, attacking me without warning."

As Rukia and Ichigo started getting into an argument the others were formally introducing themselves.

"Hey there, I'm Renji Abarai. The female midget over there is Rukia Kuchiki, and the orange one is Ichigo Kurosaki."

"The name's Toushiro Hitsugaya."

"But you can just call him the ice captain, right Toushiro?"

The young captain scowled. The Kurosaki kid must've gotten to Renji. He used to always call him 'Captain'. That is, until Ichigo had started calling him Toushiro. Now everyone seemed to be calling him by his first name.

"How many times must I tell you it's not Toushiro it's Hitsugaya-"

Harry interrupted. "Why do you call him the ice captain? Because of his dyed hair?"

Toushiro already wanted to abandon the mission and strangle all of them. "Firstly, this is not dyed, it's my natural colour got it?" he said in a somewhat calm voice, although he had a vein in his temple that was twitching angrily, contradicting his cool answer. "Secondly, it's not 'Toushiro', it's HITSUGAYA, GOT IT?" he yelled directly at Renji and Ron, who were sniggering and they immediately stopped, scared a bit by Toushiro, although it wasn't just him raising his voice that scared him. The aura around him shifted and it made them all shiver.

"I-is anybody e-else c-c-cold here?" Hermione said through chattering teeth from the abrupt change in temperature.

"Oh don't worry," said Luna lightly. "I'm Luna Lovegood, by the way. It's probably just the Galunkusies. They-" She was interrupted by Rukia.

"ARE YOU INSULTING MY SKETCHES?" she yelled at a wide-eyed Ichigo.

"No, not the sketches. More like that weird little rabbit…" ("What are they even talking about?" muttered Ron quietly.)

"Oh no," Renji muttered. "Everybody stay back. You'll find out what happens when you insult that stupid rabbit."

The students all stared, transfixed, at the furious little girl that was somehow beating up a muscular teenager twice her body mass.

"Ahhh!" Ichigo tried to get away from the little demon but she kept hitting him with the book. And he started to notice how hard it was.

Realizing she was attracting too much attention, Rukia- pretending to look embarrassed at her outburst- apologized for 'behaving so rudely'.

"But I'm still angry at you, Ichigo," she told him crossly. "We hardly see you at all for two months, then when you get back, you avoid us for three months? And you thought you'd have a friendly, open-hearted greeting? Honestly, I'm disappointed, Ichigo." She smirked, looking into his warm brown eyes for his reaction. As she thought, they hardened.

"Hmph," he muttered. When he had been freed of Aizen's control, he had lost all of his memories of when he was working under him. Over the past three months, they had slowly been coming back to him, accompanied by major headaches that made him double over. The others were also aware of this.

Hermione, Ron and Luna looked at him curiously. They didn't know what he was talking about, nor did they know why Toushiro was glaring at him and Rukia and Renji were looking concerned, but Luna ended the heavy atmosphere by suddenly waving her hand around the air, as though swatting invisible flies.

Aware of the others staring at her, she explained briefly, "Sorry about that, there were some Wrackspurts."

Hermione gave her a skeptical look, then said, "What years are you in?" addressing the new students.

"We're all in fifth year, just like you, I think," replied Ichigo.

Her eyebrows shot upwards into her bushy hair and Ron blurted out what she was thinking. "Hey, but aren't you too young to be in fifth year?" He was talking to Toshiro.

His green eyes met Ron's and whispered in a deadly voice, "I'm just short, that's all." Ron didn't even know why, but he had to fight back a shiver.

Changing the subject, Hermione said suddenly, "Oh right, I nearly forgot. I wanted to show this to you guys..." Obviously addressing Harry and Ron, she pulled a yellowish newspaper out of her pocket and handed it to them. "It's a copy of today's newspaper. Read the front page. I found it in the Prefect compartment," she explained.

Ron's eyes quickly scanned the page.

"Man's chicken big hit in Diagon Alley? Whoa, does it really juggle watermelons?"

"Not that one, the one next to that article."

"...Shinigami? What's that?"

Rukia and Ichigo jumped suddenly upon hearing the word 'shinigami'. Renji's eyes widened slightly, but apart from one of his eyebrows raising slightly, Toushiro made no reaction. Luckily, the others seemed too preoccupied with the article to notice.

Ichigo tried to cough inconspicuously. "Er, so what's the article about?" he asked casually.

Harry looked up. "I don't really get it," he stated, scratching his head. "Let Hermione explain."

"Oh right, Harry, you wouldn't know about shinigami. They actually go by several names such as Death Gods or Soul Reapers. They're not very well known in the wizarding world at all, really," she said. "There are hardly any books about them at all, and wizards don't like to talk about them."

"Why not?" asked Rukia, with genuine curiosity in her voice.

Hermione sighed. "I guess I'll have to explain their history, then, if nobody knows of them."

Ichigo had to fight back a smile. "Nope, never heard of them," he lied outright, trying not to laugh.

Hermione nodded, then said, "We discovered the shinigami hundreds and hundreds of years ago. They thought themselves to be gods and protectors of people who were dead. Apparently they were also a type of wizard, but they claimed they were already dead."

Harry interrupted at this point. "You mean like ghosts?"

"No, they had clear signs of not being ghosts. Well, obviously, the wizards didn't believe them and wiped them all out, believing them to be a part of some sort of dangerous cult or perhaps crazy. We killed them all within a month. The magical world doesn't talk about it much because they've never been seen since, so it was probably just a group of rogue wizards. They're extinct, although many believe they never existed at all, and were simply a myth."

At this, Renji raised his eyebrows and now both Ichigo and Rukia were fighting to keep a straight face. Apparently these wizards had no idea that four of the shinigami they had thought 'extinct' were actually sitting in the same compartment as them.

"So what's this have to do with the article in the papers?" Toushiro asked coolly, in a voice that didn't reveal anything.

Hermione took the Daily Prophet from Ron's hands. "A new employee at the Ministry of Magic has given evidence that they exist. Not only are they not extinct, there are thousands of them, and they've remained hidden from us all these years, just like we've been hiding from the muggle world!"

Toushiro's eyes widened in surprise. The wizards were not supposed to know they existed. The shinigami massacre the girl had described had not actually taken place, since the shinigami had faked their deaths to avoid further confrontation. Ever since, Soul Society didn't make any contact with the wizards for risk of being found out.

However, if the wizards were to discover thay they still existed, they did have enough power to potentially harm and kill them. But up until now, according to them, shinigami _didn't _exist. So how could they have found out? Then a sudden revelation came to him. Whoever had written the article, he thought grimly, was not a wizard. Of course, if found out, the said shinigami would be punished severely. He doubted they would use their real name in this world, but still...

All this took place in the captain's mind in a split second. He calmed down and asked to see the paper. Hermione handed it to him.

"Wow," said Neville. "They must be really dangerous."

"And powerful," added in Harry. "If they were able to remain hidden all these years."

"So they weren't just a bunch of lunatics after all?" asked Ron, somewhat hopefully.

"We don't know, although it doesn't seem likely anymore with this new evidence," said Hermione.

Then they heard a low growl coming from Toushiro. Everyone turned to stare at him. He appeared to be glaring at a point on the paper with extreme hatred.

"What is it, Toushiro?" said Ichigo and looked over his shoulder.

Ichigo's eyes scanned the paper. The pictures caught his eye. They were plastered all over the page, and the people in it appeared to be moving, like on TV. But he noticed something else. Two words seemed to pop out at him in particular. His eyes widened. At the place where the writer's name was for the shinigami article, was the name...

"Aizen Sousuke," he snarled in a menacing voice.

* * *

**So what do you think? Please review if you want the story to continue! Kinda boring so far, I know, but it's just the beginning! Later chapters will be better, i promise!**


	2. The Sorting of the Houses

**Okay, this is my first ever fic, so I have no idea how things work, but after reading some stories, I think I'm supposed to put up a disclaimer...**

**Disclaimer: Neither Bleach nor Harry Potter belong to me, and they never will... :(**

**...Did I do it right?**

**by the way, I don't have a copy of the fifth Harry Potter book where this takes place so I'm basing the Harry Potter timeline off of memory!**

* * *

"Aizen Sousuke," Ichigo snarled in a menacing voice.

"What?" Rukia hissed through her teeth.

Toushiro appeared to be regaining control of his rage, as his clenched fists stopped shaking, although they were still rolled up tight.

"Aizen wrote the article," he said simply, but his voice was contorted with rage.

Renji jumped up. "No way. He's gone too far this time."

"And it doesn't make sense," muttered Rukia. "Why would he _want_ to..." She suddenly stopped mid-sentence, realizing once again that they weren't alone. Although Luna didn't appear interested in anything the Daily Prophet had to say, Hermione, Ron, Neville and Harry were all staring at them, not voicing it, but obviously confused.

"Who's Aizen?" said Hermione, staring at Rukia.

Rukia blinked, not sure how to answer. Damn it Rukia, think of something, she thought to herself, but her mind was too full of questions to make up a good excuse.

"Uh...He's..." she started unimpressively. She glanced at Captain Hitsugaya, but he seemed too angry to think straight either. She tried to think back to her phrase book. What was a typical sentence that a normal person would say?

"...Someone we used to play cards with?" She could have whacked herself in the head. That was the stupidest thing she could think of!

It was obvious she was lying, and the wizards knew it, which made the situation even more awkward.

Renji, appearing to be the most calm out of all of them, which was unusual, saved her. "Aizen is, uh, the person who told us we were wizards a couple years ago," he made up.

Hermione looked confused. "But if you have magical powers, they usually contact you and tell you you're a wizard when you become old enough to attend a magic school. Or your family would tell you," she added as an afterthought.

Renji paused, making sure he remembered the details of their background story before he answered. "All of us developed our powers rather late, so Aizen sent us to a special school for people like us to learn simplified magic," Aizen hadn't been included in their story before, but it now looked like they didn't have a choice.

Hermione's eyebrows pinched together. "Hmm, I've never heard of a school like that," she said slowly.

"Me neither," put in Ron.

Harry noticed Renji had avoided the question about their families. Deciding not to ask about it in case it was a sensitive topic, he said, "So then why do you hate Aizen so much?"

"What makes you think that?"

The wizards hesitated, not sure how to answer. Ichigo answered instead. "Well, it's kind of obvious," he laughed humourlessly. "For once, Rukia isn't saying a word and Toushiro looks ready to kill somebody. Add my reaction to that, and it doesn't take a genius to figure out how much we hate him. We each have our own personal reasons for hating him." He smiled. "That's all." He then folded up the paper and threw it on the seat.

Although Ichigo looked like he had gotten back to normal from the initial shock, Rukia thought he still looked angry... and there was something else, but she didn't know what exactly it was.

Suddenly feeling as though she had intruded too far into their personal matters, Hermione decided to change the subject, but was interrupted by more guests.

"Well, well, what do we have here," sneered a boy with a prominent chin and short white-blond hair. He was wearing a shiny green badge on his chest, decorated with a silver snake.

Rukia immediately disliked this boy. He reminded her very much of Ichimaru Gin, not only because of his creepy smile, or pointed chin, but of the feeling she got from him. It was the same bone-chilling, suffocating feeling she got from the ex-captain. Whether he was talking with her older brother, or battling with Ichigo, the man gave her the creeps.

She also noticed two extremely large boys flanking either side of him. At first, she wondered how she could have missed them. They were huge and muscular, and she wasn't sure if they could fit through the doorframe. Then she realized the reason why. Although they were so much bigger, the boy in the middle was like the leader, and the other two were like his bodyguards, or perhaps accessories.

"Who are you?" she asked. Perhaps it was because they had come at such a bad time, but her voice came out harsher than she had meant it to.

"I should be asking that to you, girl," he scowled back.

"What do you want, Malfoy?" Harry had stood up. Ron copied his actions.

"Well, I was just going to come over and inform you about my becoming a Prefect," The boy named Malfoy smiled. "But I also heard that the new students were in this compartment and I was curious." His eyes swiftly observed each of the four exchange students in turn, but they lingered a little longer on Rukia. "So it's you, then?" he asked, addressing all of them and looking with apparent disdain at Ichigo, who happened to be wearing his old torn jeans and a plain T-shirt.

"What are you looking at?" Ichigo glared at Malfoy. He didn't like him too much either.

"Sorry. With your orange hair and torn pants, I nearly mistook you for a Weasley."

Ichigo immediately recognized the name. He had been called Weasley lately way too many times. He then remembered someone in the compartment was named Weasley. As he struggled to remember who, Ron raised his fist quickly, preparing to strike Malfoy's face. Hermione also got up now.

"Don't, Ron, he's not worth it!" she said harshly. "You're a Prefect now, remember?"

This made Ron hesitate for a second, which Malfoy used to his advantage.

"That's right, let the little Mudblood defend you, Weasley," he mocked in a painfully annoying voice.

That was the last straw for him. Ron made to punch his face. Malfoy's two bodyguards moved to protect him, but as if in slow motion, everyone could see they wouldn't make it in time.

Suddenly, Ichigo's hand shot out to stop Ron's punch. Even though it was strong, it seemed effortless to Ichigo.

"How'd you-" stammered a confused Neville. "You weren't there before!"

"I'm fast," shrugged Ichigo casually. "Besides, you were probably staring at Ron too much to notice."

Malfoy managed to wipe the shocked expression from his face, then studied Ichigo again.

"Do you know what house you'll be in?" he asked coldly.

Ichigo, still holding Ron's fist mid-air, responded, "No idea."

Ron finally relaxed his arm, and brought it down at his side. "Why are you curious, Malfoy? Looking for a new bodyguard?" he snapped.

"None of your business, Weasley. Let's go, Crabbe, Goyle." He walked away, nose in the air.

"Who was that?" said Toushiro.

"The snobby idiot was Draco Malfoy, and his two cronies were Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle," answered Hermione. "They think they're better than everyone else just because they're purebloods."

"What's a pureblood?" asked Rukia, who instantly thought of a purebred dog.

"It's a wizard who's parents were both wizards themselves and they were also of pureblooded descent. Then a Muggle-born, like me, have parents that are both Muggles, or non-magical people. A half-blood would be anything in between," she explained quickly.

It turned out there was a lot of stuff the newcomers didn't know, and most of the conversation for the rest of the ride was involved with a lot of explaining. But once in a while, Harry would notice that them blanking out, or as if their mind was somewhere else. It's probably something to do with the article, he thought. They made a huge fuss about it earlier.

"What the- Why is the chocolate moving?" exclaimed Ichigo, opening a chocolate frog box and immediately dropping it on the seat. The chocolate frog hopped around aimlessly, until Ron caught it and handed it to him.

"There you go."

"I-it's not real, is it?" Ichigo asked apprehensively, taking the squirming frog.

"Nah, it's just a spell," Ron replied, taking his own chocolate frog and biting off the head. The body of the frog still thrashed around madly, and Ichigo, staring at the headless frog, turned green.

"Uh, here Renji, do you want it?" he offered.

"Why, are you chicken?" answered Rukia.

"Shut up, midget!"

"But she's right, you know. You're acting really chicken," Renji said.

"Easy for you to say! You never had to dissect these in Biology class," Ichigo argued.

"Yeah, Renji, why don't you eat it?" said Rukia innocently.

"That's not fair, Rukia, you know I can't do that!"

"See, you can't do it either, Renji!" laughed Ichigo.

"Yeah, but I have a good reason," he muttered.

_About a century earlier..._

"Great, we're out of food again," sighed Rukia.

"I guess we'll just have to steal some," said Renji, as though the answer was obvious.

"Well, duh, but in case you haven't noticed, the entire _district's_ out of food; there's no one to steal from, stupid."

As the two children wandered around the dirt roads of their poor district, Renji spotted something.

"Hey, look over there, Rukia!" Many people who had been lounging around the dirt road had also tried to get a closer look at what appeared to be an ox-cart. "Do you think they have food?" he said excitedly.

Once in a while, some strangers would pass by, since not many shinigami were around this area, and made it easy to smuggle things through, although it came with risks, since their district was dangerous and they faced a high chance of getting robbed.

"Maybe! Let's go check it out!" They ran as quickly as they could, determined to find food for themselves and the other poor children. As they approached the ox-cart, they could see a mountain of delicious-looking fruits from underneath a blanket. Renji looked around. Excellent. They wee the first ones there, and the owner of the cart was nowhere to be seen.

"Let's take the watermelon," he whispered to Rukia. "It's huge!"

"Sure."

Renji slowly reached his hand under the blanket and pulled out a giant watermelon. It _was _huge, and he was having difficulty lifting it. Rukia became slightly worried, but helped him carry it anyways. Even for the two of them, it was extremely heavy.

"Actually, it looks really big. If the owner comes now, I don't think we can outrun him," she said worriedly.

"Yeah, but if we get away with it, it could feed us for a couple weeks!"

They started walking down the road, as quickly as they could manage, but the owner came out in time to see two kids sneaking off with his prized watermelon.

"HEY YOU! GET BACK HERE YOU STUPID KIDS!"

"Shoot, he caught us!" Rukia yelled, and they tried to run with the watermelon. They could hear the ox-driven cart behind them. If they didn't get out of there soon, they'd get run over!

"Renji! Drop the watermelon!" she screamed at him.

"But-"

"Hurry!"

Renji sighed, then dropped it. Literally. The sudden weight was too much for Rukia and she dropped it as well. The watermelon smashed on the ground, splattering their faces and clothes with sweet juice.

"NOOOOO!"

The kids ran for it with all their strength and never saw the man again.

"Darn it. Everyone's going to be really disappointed," said Renji, slumping against a wall.

"It wasn't your fault," Rukia said quietly.

"Rukia..." he looked up at her.

She whacked him on the head.

"Of course it was your fault you meathead!" she said. "We should've gotten smaller fruits, but you just had to be greedy and take the watermelon, didn't you?"

"Ow-ow-ow!" he jumped up, yelling in pain. "Hey, what's that?"

He pointed to a small frog in the middle of the road. He'd never seen one in this part of town before. He ran over to pick it up.

"What are you doing, Renji?"

"Look! He can be our pet!" he exclaimed, positively glowing.

"Hey, what do you have there, kid?" grunted an unfamiliar voice. Renji looked up slowly. A very large muscular man glowered down at him. "Let me see that." He stuck out his hand.

Renji's eyes widened. "N-no! What are you going to do to him?"

"Just want to see it, kid." Renji didn't move.

"Renji!" Rukia hissed. "Just give it to him!"

The older man swiped it from the boy's hands before he could say anything. Renji, horrified, could do nothing but watch.

"Excellent," the older man smiled. "I was starving, and now food comes along." He slowly lifted the frog to his mouth.

_Back on the train..._

Renji shuddered. "And that's why I can't eat those," he finished.

"And it didn't help much when Yachiru ate a frog then threw up on you a couple years ago, did it?" said Rukia innocently.

The other people in the room were having a totally different conversation.

"You people are strange," said Luna. She was voicing what everyone else was thinking, but that didn't make it any less awkward for all of them.

"Yes, we've been told," said Toushiro. "And I don't believe you're talking about our appearance, are you?"

Luna shook her head. "You're smart, though. Maybe you'll be in my house: Ravenclaw."

"I doubt it. We're all going to be in the same house, and I doubt those ones," he jerked his head towards the three that were having an argument behind him. "are quite smart enough for your house."

Harry turned away from Luna and looked at Toushiro.

"So Dumbledore's letting you all stay in the same house?" said Harry, biting into a pumpkin pasty.

Toushiro nodded. "I was told they would sort us normally, but if one of us is left out, they will put them in the same house as the other three. So tell me, how do they separate you into houses?"

Ron explained this time. "They put a hat on your head and he looks into your mind. Then based on what kind of person you are, he puts you into a certain house."

Hermione interrupted. "I think we're going to have to put on our robes now. We're almost at the Hogsmeade station." She glanced out the window, and could already see some of the cottages in the small village.

Then she stared at Ichigo and Renji, who were trying to force the other to eat the chocolate frog.

"You eat it!" "Why don't you?"

"Would the two of you please shut up!" said Rukia, rolling her eyes. "We have to put on our robes now, so quit your brawling. Oh, sorry, I meant _bawling_."

Although they both glared at her, they put on their robes anyway, as did everyone else in the cabin. The train slowed down and stopped at the station.

"Whoa, what is that?" yelled Harry out loud. He pointed to the horse-like creatures pulling the carriages, which had always rolled by themselves. They had wings sprouting out of their back, and were quite skeletal-looking.

"There's nothing there, Harry," said Hermione, confused. "The carriages are pulling themselves, like they always have."

"Don't worry, Harry, you're not crazy," Luna assured him. "I can see them too. You're as sane as I am."

This made Harry extremely worried, until he heard the new students arguing with Ron and Hermione.

"What are you talking about? They're right in front of you!" exclaimed Ichigo.

"I don't see anything," Ron frowned.

"Consider yourself lucky. They're freaky," said Rukia.

"Aww, is little Rukia scared of a horsie?" Renji mocked.

"Horses?" said Hermione. "Where?"

"Whatever. Let's just get in the carriages," Ichigo sighed, feeling like their conversation was going in circles.

After they entered the castle, a stern-looking old teacher with a pointed hat and emerald-green robes beckoned the new students towards her.

"I am Professor McGonagall," she started briskly. "You will be sorted after the first-years, and I believe the Headmaster said that if you are separated, he will personally make sure you are together." Her tone did not make them believe she approved of this special exception for them. "And after the feast, he would like to see you all," she added.

The four shinigami nodded. They entered behind the very nervous-looking first-years looking as confident and emotionless as they could manage. They still hadn't gotten a chance to talk in private and their minds were vaguely following what Dumbledore was saying. They hardly even noticed when everyone started whispering and pointing at their strange hair, and in Renji's case, tattoos. Their minds were still very preoccupied with all the new information they had been given.

Renji looked up, and the others followed his gaze. The ceiling appeared to be enchanted to look like outside.

"Okay, is anyone else here getting déjà vu here but me?" murmured Ichigo. They were all thinking of the dome of Las Noches, where the ceiling had also looked like the outside world.

"Maybe Aizen copied these people."

"Wouldn't put it past him."

"What a git."

"Even more reason to hate him."

"That and his stupid tea. He's always offering it to his Espada. What's up with that?"

By the time all the first-years were sorted, Ichigo knew which table was which. He spotted Ron, Hermione, and Harry at the Gryffindor table, who were looking back at him.

"Now," said Professor McGonagall. "If you would put the hat on, Mr. Abarai."

He nodded, and walked up to the stool. He put the worn-out hat on his head. He had seen how it would work with the other students, but he didn't expect a voice to pop into his head.

"Hmm... I see the four of you are no ordinary people," it almost sounded like it was smiling. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone. My duty is to only sort you. You're fairly easy. Plenty of courage, although it could also be defined as recklessness as well." Renji scowled.

The voice continued. "Well, I've made up my mind. You will be in... GRYFFINDOR!" The hat yelled out the last word, and the Gryffindor table cheered as they greeted the newcomer. Smiling, he sat next to Ron, who greeted him like a friend.

Toushiro went up next. His face remained stoic as the voice greeted him. "You shinigami have such interesting minds," it commented. There are your memories, plus one or two memories from your previous life. And to top it off, you have those fascinating zanpakutou who live in your mind as well. Now let's see... Very sharp mind...Yes, Ravenclaw, would be good for you. However, your courage is strong. I don't know if that's normal for a shinigami, but we have yet another... GRYFFINDOR!"

Again the Gryffindor table cheered. Emotionless, he sat next to Renji, who had a relieved expression on his face.

"So from what I understood, Gryffindor's for the brave?" Toushiro asked Ron, who high-fived him. "Yup, that's us. Gryffindor's also the worst enemy of Slytherin, so watch out for them," he warned.

Renji wasn't listening. He was staring intently at Rukia, who was being sorted.

"And we have yet another sharp mind. However you are willing to sacrifice anything, even your own life, for those you love. You are definitely in... GRYFFINDOR!"

Shocked, the Gryffindor table cheered again. It looked like all the new students were in their house. Grinning widely, Rukia seated herself next to Hermione.

"It's settled then. Even if Ichigo gets sorted into another house, which I'm sure he won't, the four of us are in the same house!" said Renji.

Everyone now watched as the teenager with orange hair and a permanent scowl etched on his face walked up to the stool and jammed the hat on his head.

"..." He could feel the Sorting hat's presence in his mind, but it didn't seem to say anything. Instead, it felt like it was searching through his head. It was kind of uncomfortable.

"Well," it finally said. "Even for a shinigami, you're extremely unusual. The shinigami I just looked at had two personalities in their mind: themselves and the soul of their sword. You, it seems, have three."

It looks like he found my hollow, thought Ichigo.

"And also, it appears there's a part of your mind that doesn't belong to you."

What? "Yes, it's minuscule, not to mention weak, but there's a part of your mind that is being controlled by someone else."

No way, Ichigo thought. Could it be... Aizen? But he wasn't under his control anymore, was he?

"You are difficult," said the hat finally. "At first glance, I'd surely put you in Gryffindor, but that third personality in your head should definitely be a Slytherin. And also, your lust for power is extremely great. You'd do almost anything for power. Even cut down a friend."

That's not true, argued Ichigo, although he knew what the hat was talking about.

"Yes, your desire for power is very dominating, thus I will put you in... SLYTHERIN!"

* * *

**O.o WTF? How did he get in Slytherin? Cut down a friend? That's not very ichigo-ish! Don't worry, I know all this already. Just keep reading, all right?**

**Okay, thanks for the reviews so far for the people that did review, but if you've got like five seconds, do you mind reviewing (for all the people that didn't)? Just something short. I need some criticism to improve my writing. Oh, and also, the plot isn't completely written in stone yet, so if you have any suggestions, etc., just tell me in a review!**

**Thanks for reading!**


	3. Hanging from a chandelier

**I know, I know... Ichigo's in Slytherin? I'll try to explain it later...**

**So far, I've got pretty positive reviews, which is good, so thanks guys! Some are just shocked because Ichigo's in Slytherin haha. Hmm... my romance department needs some work, I'll try to get to that. Sorry, I'm pretty much stuck on Ichiruki, so if there is any romance, it'll be ichiruki, and nooo ichihime :)**

**So here's chapter three!**

* * *

Instead of following the rest of the Gryffindors, or in Ichigo's case the Slytherins, back to the common room, Ichigo, Renji, Rukia, and Toushiro waited for the school to file out the doors of the Great Hall and followed Dumbledore through the corridors.

"Pepper imps," said Dumbledore to what appeared to be a large stone statue. The word seemed to be a password, for the statue slowly started turning. He gestured to Professor McGonagall, carrying the worn-out sorting hat, and the four new students behind him that had very surprised expressions on their faces. They followed him up a hidden staircase which had opened up. As they reached the top, they saw a wooden door with a brass knocker. They then entered Dumbledore's office.

"Whoa," muttered Renji. They were in a large circular room filled with many interesting things. 'Interesting' may have been an understatement, however. The four newcomers were amazed.

Gadgets that Ichigo had never seen in the human world were sitting on a large wooden desk. All sorts of oddly-shaped silver instruments were lined up on shelves behind it, and the portraits of all the previous headmasters of the school, that were hung on the walls, were moving within their frames.

McGonagall, apparently not as amazed as the students, crossed the room and put the sorting hat on a shelf. She then put the stool away in a corner. She bowed her head slightly to the headmaster and left the room.

Dumbledore cleared his throat after the door slammed shut. "Well, first things first, I suppose," he said lightly.

He waved his wand and conjured up four comfy looking chairs for them to sit in. He waved his wand again and they heard the lock in the door click. He waved his wand a third time, but they couldn't see anything out of the ordinary happen. Then he sat in his own chair behind the desk. The students followed his actions.

"So tell me," he said. "What business do you have in my school?" Although his voice was stern, his eyes were twinkling, as though he was smiling. "And incidentally, don't worry about being overheard. I've cast a charm on the room. Even if someone were to try to eavesdrop, they wouldn't be able to hear a thing."

Toushiro glanced at the portraits along the walls. Although the headmasters all had their eyes closed, he was positive some of them were still listening.

Dumbledore followed his gaze. "Oh, don't worry, they're all trustworthy. They've already heard many things they shouldn't have."

Toushiro appeared to relax. Then he straightened his back and put on a serious expression. He seemed more like the captain of the tenth division than a small child now.

"I take it you already know about us?" he said calmly.

"Yes, I've always been able to distinguish shinigami from wizards."

"Then you don't believe those idiotic rumours wizards have started about us?"

"Goodness," Dumbledore chuckled. "Shinigami are far from extinct, I am fully aware of that. In fact, I had a friend who was one a few years back, which is why I do not think you are our enemy. Those translating bracelets do work wonders." He glanced subconsciously at the one on Toushiro's wrist.

"So the main reason we are at your school is-"

Toushiro was interrupted by a knock on the door. Dumbledore stood up.

"Hold that thought," he told Toushiro. The boy nodded in response.

The old headmaster unlocked the door. "Ah, Professor Umbridge! Is there something you need?"

Immediately Toushiro looked up. Professor Umbridge was the one who had given that speech before the feast. He had felt like he and Hermione were the only ones paying attention. A speech like that was nothing for him. He had to constantly listen to his vice-captain's complaints, and the speeches the captain-commander Yamamoto gave out. Both were much more tiring than the speech the new teacher had been presenting. And since no one else had been listening, no one but he and Hermione could understand how suspicious this new teacher was.

"I am sorry, Headmaster, but do you have a moment?" she asked in an annoyingly high simpering voice. She caught the eye of the students. "In private, please," she added.

When she looked at Renji, he nearly had to stop himself from fainting. Her face looked exactly like that frog that Yachiru had thrown up on his clothes! The young pink-haired kid, who had been riding on her captain's back had eaten a live frog and promptly threw up on Renji. From far away, when Umbridge was delivering the speech, he knew something in her face was familiar. Now up close, the resemblance between her and the frog-vomit was uncanny!

"Why of course," Dumbledore smiled. "Do you mind..." He looked at the students.

"Of course not," answered Rukia.

"Let's take this discussion to your office while they wait here, shall we?" he suggested.

"Why of course, Headmaster."

As they left the room, the shinigami realized they were having their first time alone, and they had to take advantage of it while they still could. They didn't know when the next chance to talk in private would come.

"What did Soul Society find about Aizen?" asked Ichigo immediately.

"Why don't you explain, Captain Hitsugaya?" yawned Renji, as he leaned back in his seat.

"So you're calling me Captain again?"

"I can't be calling you Captain in front of these people, you know. They'll get suspicious."

"_I_ don't have to call you 'Captain Hitsugaya' do I?" said Ichigo.

"Of course you do. You're not the captain of the third division anymore, Kurosaki," Toushiro replied.

"Thank goodness for that," whispered Rukia a little too loudly to be talking just to Renji. "Remember when he nearly killed his squad by ignoring the hell's butterfly and stepped into a mine field, thinking it was a practice terrain?"

"And he never showed up at meetings either," added in Renji. "He was worse than Captain Zaraki."

Ichigo's face turned red. "That wasn't my fault," he insisted. "I had to go to school too, and my life was really hectic."

"Be quiet Abarai, I have to fill Kurosaki in on some details." Toushiro turned to Ichigo. "After launching that attack on Soul Society (he ignored Ichigo's wince at the memory), as you know, he went into hiding with Ichimaru Gin, Kaname Tousen, and the espadas 1, 2, 3, 5 and 7."

"What about the fourth and sixth espada?" interrupted Ichigo.

"The sixth espada was killed, but surprisingly the seventh, Grimmjow Jaggerjack, survived instead."

"Wait... Grimmjow's seventh? How'd he get demoted?"

Toushiro rolled his eyes. "You mean you've forgotten?" he asked skeptically.

Ichigo paused. "Was _I_ the fourth espada?" he asked, confused. He didn't remember that.

Toushiro nodded. "You replaced Ulquiorra Schiffer and he was demoted to the fifth rank. Everyone else was also pushed back a rank. Recently we received word that Aizen has come into contact with the wizarding world. We believe that he may have allied himself with a dark wizard. This article that he wrote means he knows we are here as well, and it also proves he is working in their ministry. So- DROP THAT RIGHT NOW ABARAI!" he yelled suddenly, and made everyone in the room jump.

Renji and Rukia had been daring each other to do random things while the other two were talking, and Renji had taken down the sword of Godric Gryffindor and was swinging it around the room. Not used to the difference between this and his zanpakutou, he had nearly killed Fawkes, the headmaster's phoenix, who had ducked at just the right moment.

"I say," said one of the headmasters, looking scandalized. "Some of us are trying to sleep! Respect your elders, child."

Toushiro Hitsugaya glared at the portrait. "If we're talking about age, I am easily much older than you are," he hissed in a menacing voice. Even though the portrait couldn't feel the chill that was going through the room, the former headmaster still shivered.

"Not my fault," shrugged Renji. "This thing is point-heavy, man!" But he put the sword back where he had found it and patted the giant red bird on the head.

"Sorry about that, little birdie!" he said. The bird didn't move and ignored him.

"That sword is a valuable artifact in the magical world. It used to belong to Godric Gryffindor himself," Toushiro said sternly, recalling having seen that in one of his textbooks.

"Speaking of Gryffindor," Rukia looked at Ichigo. "I guess you'll be transferring houses."

"Yeah," said Ichigo uncomfortably, then he realized Toushiro appeared to be staring at him intently.

During the feast, Toushiro had asked what characteristics defined the Slytherin house.

"Well I really didn't think Ichigo would be going there," Ron had answered thoughtfully. "I mean, pretty much all the dark wizards in the world come from that house. All the Death Eaters are from there, I know that for sure."

"What are Death Eaters?" Rukia had asked, who had been eavesdropping on their conversation.

"Death Eaters are followers of Voldemort. He's the most feared wizard in the world," Harry had said. Ron had practically flinched at the name.

"For goodness sakes, Ron, it's just a name!" Hermione had said, rolling her eyes.

"Why do they join him?" Toushiro had asked.

"I don't know... I guess they want power or something like that. Plus, they love being the best. They think they're so much more superior," Ron had said.

"In Hogwarts: A History," Hermione had interrupted. "It says 'Slytherin house values ambition, cunning, leadership and resourcefulness'."

Toushiro had nodded his head briefly. "Thanks."

Why would Kurosaki be in Slytherin? He thought to himself. From what the Weasley boy had said, all the evil ones went to that house. He would have to keep a closer eye on the kid than he had thought.

Ichigo interrupted his thoughts. "So what were you saying earlier, Toushiro?"

"Oh... Sorry, Kurosaki, but I was wondering, did the sorting hat mention why he put you in Slytherin?"

Rukia and Renji turned around, also curious.

So that's what he was thinking about, thought Ichigo. He thought of what the sorting hat had said to him.

"_Your desire for power is extremely great. You'd do almost anything for power. Even cut down a friend."_

He stared into Toushiro's eyes. "Nope," he replied coolly.

Toushiro glared at him, knowing he wasn't telling the truth. Why is he messing with me? He knows I know he's lying.

"You'd better watch your back, Kurosaki. After all, we are surrounded on all sides. All eyes are on us," he muttered so softly that only Ichigo could hear him. In response, Ichigo gave him a small, evil smirk that, for a split-second, made his face look less like Ichigo Kurosaki and more like the man who had served under Aizen. His back was to Renji and Rukia, who didn't understand what was going on.

They sat there for a while, glaring at each other, until Renji nervously broke the deafening silence.

"Weren't you, uh, going to clarify the mission with him, Captain?" he said.

Toushiro nodded, still staring suspiciously at Ichigo. He had not yet fully recovered from being under Aizen's control, and he'd have to keep him close by at all times.

"Until we receive more information, which we probably won't since we'll be the ones investigating, we are to protect Hogwarts from any harm, whether it's Aizen, Voldemort, or a drunk Matsumoto."

Renji snickered. "Hey, Captain Hitsugaya! You actually made a joke! I was beginning to think you were incapable of cracking a joke once in a while." He slapped him on the back.

"...It wasn't a joke."

Renji stopped laughing and looked nervous again. "Whoops," he mumbled.

"Wait, what was that second name again?" said Ichigo.

"Voldemort," answered Toushiro. "He's the most feared and dangerous wizard of all time." His voice dropped down to a whisper. "I don't know what his capabilities are, but the people here can't even say his name they're so scared. I'm sure that if we faced him unprepared, we could all die."

Renji snorted. "Yeah, right. I'll bet he's nothing compared to Aizen. Besides, I don't see how these," He pulled out his wand, which was tiny compared to the large sword he usually carried. "could possibly hurt us."

Suddenly there was a loud bang and a cloud of smoke. Ichigo tried to wave it away from his face, and he could see the outline of Rukia doing the same. When the smoke settled, Ichigo could see Captain Hitsugaya was putting away his wand, which was rather slender and shiny. Then Ichigo noticed Renji was nowhere to be seen. He swiveled his head, looking for his bright red hair.

"Hey! Up here!" Ichigo looked up. Renji was dangling from the candle chandelier hanging from the ceiling.

"That was merely a basic spell that I learned a few weeks ago," said Toushiro. "You didn't have any time to react or defend yourself. Had I been Voldemort, you'd be dead rather than hanging from the ceiling."

"Yeah, yeah," said Renji, who was struggling to get down. "Stupid gigai... I can't use shunpo." As he was wriggling around, the cloak from which he was hanging ripped. "Agh! Damn it!"

The cloak ripped completely and floated gracefully to the ground. Renji, though, was hanging on to the chandelier for dear life with his hands. His arms, which were much weaker than his usual ones, were still quite strong, but his palms were getting sweaty and he was finding it harder and harder to hold on to the chandelier.

"...Uh, Ichigo, do you mind helping me?" he squeaked.

Ichigo shrugged. "Sorry. According to you, I was a worse captain than Kenpachi."

In a normal situation, Renji would have dropped down with no hesitation, but he couldn't risk getting even a scratch on his gigai.

"You'd better get down soon, Abarai," Toushiro said in an undertone. "The headmaster's climbing the stairs."

Renji's eyes widened. Sure enough, if he concentrated hard enough, he could feel the old man's spiritual pressure getting close, although it was hard to do in a building full of people with high spiritual force.

In desperation, he attempted to launch himself from the chandelier onto an overstuffed couch in the corner. Dumbledore entered the room.

When he entered, the first thing he saw was one of the transfer students flying from his chandelier and heading straight for his desk. Renji skidded headfirst across the desk, knocking down everything, and even when he lay limply there, a few of the headmaster's ornaments crashed to the ground.

Renji didn't want to look up, but as the room remained silent and motionless, he slowly got up, knocking over a few other things. To his surprise, the headmaster didn't look angry at all.

In fact, he was smiling.

Rukia immediately bowed apologetically. "I am so sorry, sir!" she said quickly. "We tried to hold him back, but he just had to go and ruin everything!"

Albus Dumbledore merely chuckled, "It's quite alright. I was planning to clear off my desk anyways, it was so cluttered." He glanced at his gold watch. "I think it's high time you four went off to bed. We can continue this discussion another time, agreed?"

Everyone nodded.

"Oh, and I believe Mr. Kurosaki will be switching houses, as we discussed earlier," he said, looking at Ichigo.

Ichigo couldn't help but look back, but he regretted it. The old man was staring at him through his half-moon spectacles with friendly blue eyes, but he felt like all his thoughts were somehow being revealed to him. This was almost completely confirmed when Ichigo heard a familiar snarl in the back of his mind.

"_Get out, old man_," it said.

Ichigo tore his gaze away from the headmaster. "Yeah, okay, I'll go to the Gryffindor common room with them."

"Professor McGonagall will be escorting you," said Professor Dumbledore, as if nothing had just happened.

The four of them nodded, and quietly left the room, but the moment the door closed, Dumbledore could hear a loud thump.

"OW! What the hell was that for Rukia?"

"You just succeeded in making us look like fools. Congratulations, Renji."

"Hey, it wasn't my fault..."

"Are you implying something, Abarai?"

"...No, sir..."

He heard their footsteps and loud voices slowly fading away as they got farther and farther, until he couldn't hear anything else. He looked at his ruined office, and smiled. Those shinigami were certainly interesting, he could give them that. Then he thought of the last one, the orange-haired one.

His smile vanished. He had tried to peer into his mind, and was greeted by what appeared to be a second personality in his head. Apparently the boy had heard it too, for his eyes had widened and looked... surprised? Scared, maybe? He couldn't tell.

He paced his study, thinking.

00000

Toushiro got up quietly from his bed. It was the middle of the night, and the only light came from the moon outside the window. He slipped out of the bedroom where the other fifth year Gryffindor boys were sleeping and into the Gryffindor common room, where he had some work to do.

He took out a small silver cell phone and dialed a number silently. He pressed the phone to his ear.

"Hello?"

"It's me," the captain said quietly.

"Good to hear from you. What do you have to report?"

Toushiro began explaining everything they had learned so far. If he was lucky, he might just run into Aizen on this mission. Then he'd be able to pay him back for what he did to Hinamori. He remembered the pain on her face as she tried to muster the courage to kill Toushiro. They were extremely close friends, like brother and sister.

If Aizen so much as showed his face, he'd personally make sure he'd suffer for all that he'd done.

He thought of all the trouble his attack on Soul Society had caused. Hundreds of people had died, and thousands injured. Not to mention dragging the human kid, Kurosaki, into this, as if they didn't have enough trouble already. He glanced up at the dark staircase that led to Ichigo.

The voice on the other end of the phone spoke again.

"Alright, I've relayed the information to the main team. Do you have anything to report about the second part of the mission?"

Still staring at the staircase, Toushiro lowered his voice. "Kurosaki Ichigo appears to be struggling," he said quietly. "Although he's acting normally, it's obvious that whatever Aizen did to him is having some lingering effects." He thought of a couple hours ago, when Ichigo had that evil smile on his face in Dumbledore's study. He obviously hadn't realized what he'd been doing at the time.

"Nothing further to report?"

"No. I'll update Soul Society three days from now," he stated.

"Goodbye, Captain Hitsugaya."

"Bye."

There was a click on the other end, but he didn't hear it. The silver-haired boy's thoughts were on the mission. If the room wasn't so dark, you could probably see the concentration behind his eyes.

_**You'd do anything for power...**_

Ichigo subconsciously rolled onto his side in his small four-poster and drew up the blankets closer.

_**Even cut down a friend...**_

His head was starting to hurt, and he couldn't tell if he was still awake, or if he was dreaming. He felt like he was in between both.

_**Anything...**_

His head was pounding now, and he couldn't think anymore, just about how much it hurt.

_**For power.**_

_It was the dead of night, but Soul Society was far from asleep. The heightened spirit energy of many shinigami could be felt everywhere, meaning they were in battle. An exception was on Soukyoku hill, where two figures could faintly be seen in the moonlight. One was on the ground, looking up at the one standing in the sky._

"_What the hell are you doing with Aizen, Ichigo?" yelled a furious Renji. "He's a traitor! So why're you on his side?"_

"_Power." Ichigo's eyes were black with golden pupils, and if he even cared what he was doing, he didn't show it._

"_Power?" repeated Renji in disbelief. "You're endangering innocent lives, attacking your fellow shinigami, and betraying your friends... for power?" He paused, then shook his head. "No way, you can't be Ichigo. The real Ichigo- the one that I know- he'd never do that!"_

_Renji unsheathed his zanpakutou. "Howl, Zabimaru!" His katana elongated into a wide, jagged-edged sword. "I'll just have to knock you back to your senses!"_

_Ichigo's mouth curled up into a creepy smile at the sound of desperation of Renji's voice. "Oh, really? Well that's too bad. I kind of wanted this to last a bit longer."_

"_What are you-" Suddenly blood gushed out of his side from a wound that hadn't been there until a half-second ago. Ichigo was still standing in the air, a good few meters away from Renji, but his black sword was drenched in his ex-comrade's blood._

"_Sorry for the cheap shot," he smirked as Renji collapsed to the ground in his own puddle of blood. "But you didn't stand a chance anyway. If two people were fighting, and only one had the intent to kill, guess who'd win?" _

_He shunpoed to Renji's side and wiped the blood from Zangetsu on his robes._

"_Sorry," he sneered. "I'd do it on mine, but they're white." His uniform, was in fact white. It was his normal bankai uniform, except the outfit was white, so it resembled very much an espada uniform, and the jacket was opened at the front, revealing a large gaping hole in the middle of his chest where his heart should've been._

"_Ichigo," Renji said in a weak voice. "Why-"_

"_I told you already, dumbass. Power."_

Ichigo suddenly sat up in his bed, wide awake. He was sweating like crazy, and panting like he had just run a marathon. His headache suddenly stopped and he realized his head was in his hands.

Trying to calm himself, he slowly looked up from his hands around the pitch-black room. The moon that shone through the curtains was bright, just like in his memory.

He had been slowly getting his memories back from the period of time he was under Aizen's control, and he knew what he had done, but it still mentally killed him to relive those moments. He stared at his hands. He could have sworn a moment ago, they were soaked in Renji's blood. He didn't know if it was because of coming to Hogwarts, but Ichigo felt like the dream was even more vivid than usual.

Ichigo looked to his right, and saw with relief that Renji looked perfectly fine, besides the fact that he had a terrified look on his face and kept muttering to himself.

"Don't... flippin'... care about... your stupid feathers, Yumichika..."

Ichigo sighed very quietly, so it was hardly more than a breath of air. He wished his nightmares were about things like the eleventh squad too. Anything would be better than the torture he went through nearly every night.

What was he doing here anyways? He didn't belong to this house, according to the sorting hat. He was the only one who wasn't surprised about where he was being sorted. The hat had to take into account the things he'd done in the past as well, like nearly kill everyone you loved. It couldn't just ignore that...

Thinking about what the hat said made him worried. He knew the third personality in his head was his hollow, but what did the hat mean when it said a portion of his mind didn't belong to him? The only thing he could think of was Aizen.

He punched his pillow silently. Damn Aizen, he thought. This is all his freaking fault.

He drew back his hand and unclenched his fist. He stared at his hands for the second time that night. Besides Renji, who else had these hands hurt? Had he killed innocent citizens? Injured his closest friends?

Ichigo thought of Rukia. Had he hurt her as well? If he had, he'd never be able to forgive himself. He didn't know why, but whenever he saw her in pain, he felt like he too could feel the pain, multiplied by ten.

He realized he was clutching his heart area, and withdrew his hand. He wiped the sweat on his forehead with the back of it, then he squinted in the darkness. Something wasn't right. Toushiro's bed was empty, he finally noticed. He looked around wildly, as though expecting him to pop out of the shadows.

Did something happen? Maybe there was a hollow around or something, and he'd missed it. He got out of bed and crept down the stairs. The common room was even darker than upstairs, where there was at least some moonlight.

But although it was pitch-black, Ichigo could see Toushiro's bright white hair. He didn't know if he could see him because he was a shinigami, or if he had night vision or something. He peered around the room. It didn't seem like he had night vision. For a second, he was disappointed, until he realized that this meant that if Toushiro was glowing, then by being a shinigami, he too might be able to glow in the dark.

As his speculations went off the track, the captain's head turned.

"What are you doing here, Kurosaki Ichigo?" Toushiro said.

"We're in England, remember? It's 'Ichigo Kurosaki', not the other way arou..." he broke off at the look on Toushiro's face. He was surprised he could actually see the expression on his face in the dark, though, which led him to remember his theory.

"I couldn't sleep, but just wondering, Toushiro. Do shinigami glow in the dark?"

"...What?"

"Well, think about it. How do you find people in Soul Society in the middle of the night? I mean, you guys always have emergencies in the night, and stuff, and it's not like you have street lights or anything... And I can see you perfectly fine, and if you were glowing in the dark, it'd probably be because you're a shinigami so I was kind of wondering if I could glow in the dark too," Ichigo explained very fast.

Toushiro cocked up an eyebrow. "Think about what you're saying for a second, Kurosaki. No, don't say anything. Just- just think about it, okay? ...And then go back to sleep. From what I'm hearing come out of your mouth, I'm pretty sure you need some more sleep."

"Yeah, yeah," huffed Ichigo, obviously disappointed.

"You'd better sleep," warned Toushiro. "Tomorrow's our first day, and we need to be alert and prepared for whatever this school hands us."

Ichigo nodded, his face now solemn, and started up the stairs. "You coming?" he said.

"I'm going to stay here a bit longer. I have to organize some stuff for our mission," said Toushiro.

"Okay."

Toushiro sat back down in his armchair. Great. Now he had another thing on his mind... _We probably don't glow, maybe just a faint luminousity..._

* * *

**YAAAAAY! Finally done all the stupid introduction stuff, and now we can start the actual story! (oo btw there will be _no_ yaoi in this fic!)**

**Noooo... Ichigo... why must you be so evil to Renji :'(**

**Lol, the glow-in-the-dark thing was stupid, but don't you think about weird things in the middle of the night, too?**

**please review! I know some of you are just reading this without reviewing, but I need some criticisms! I don't care if you hate it, just tell me you hate it in a review please! And I'm allowing anonymous reviews too, so you don't have an excuse. :P**


	4. A Tiny Cero

**omg sorry it took so long! See I have this perfectly legit excuse for it though: I was waiting for a library copy of HP5 I ordered so I could make the story more exact. Unfortunately, my dad forgot to tell me that they called and now it's been given to someone else and I have to pay two bucks. :( **

**This chapter's definitely not according to the book, and I'm in a rush, so I didn't edit it either. I'll get to that tomorrow. If things don't make sense, like their characters, or the way shinigami stuff works, don't hesitate to tell me in a review!**

* * *

A pillow whacked Ichigo's face. Instead of opening his eyes, he turned over so his head was buried in the pillow and mumbled, "Leave me alone, Rukia..."

Although he tried going back to sleep, his mind was wide awake, and he was starting to remember what had happened yesterday. As he realized slowly he wasn't in his home, and was in fact in a school for wizards, he groaned, but still tried to deny it.

"There's no such thing as wizards, there's no such thing as-" he tried repeating to himself, but was interrupted by another whack on the head.

"Did you just call me Rukia?" snarled a voice.

Oh, no. This proved he wasn't at home. Unless Rukia was playing a trick on him.

"Get up, you lazy butthead!" Renji yelled in his ear.

"Gah!" Ichigo was jolted awake and fell out of bed. Maybe it _was_ Rukia in disguise. This morning routine felt similar, anyhow.

"I'm not going to be late on the first day of classes just because you slept in today, Ichigo!" said Renji. "Hurry up and get ready, almost everybody's left already."

"Good morning to you too," mumbled Ichigo, the sound of his voice muffled by the pillow he had buried his head in. He stretched and swore halfheartedly at his friend instead of kicking him in the face like he normally would have, if it hadn't been for last night's dream.

Renji was dressed in his school uniform and robes and was now striding over to his bed to put on his socks. Ichigo rubbed his eyes and looked around groggily. The boy named Seamus, who had just been laughing with Dean, saw that Ichigo was awake, muttered something to his friend, and they left the room quickly, no longer laughing.

Ichigo snorted. So this was the reaction he was going to get from all the Gryffindors now. Whatever. He didn't and never did care about what other people thought about him. Ichigo shivered. He was just wearing a tank top and it was freezing. He took it offand changed into his school robes after washing up, then left the room with Renji.

00000

"Colin, could you _please_ just leave us alone?" said Harry through gritted teeth. "Don't you have, like, a class to go to?" He was thoroughly annoyed by the small fourth year, who had recommitted to pursuing Harry. Although he was one of the few who didn't believe Harry was crazy, even Harry had a limit to how much he could take.

"Yeah, we never see you going to class," said Ron "You're always following and tracking Harry even when the bell rings... And then you stalk him during break... Don't you have any friends or a life or something?"

Colin Creevey looked up from his camera. "Whoa, that was an awesome picture!" he exclaimed. "Sorry, what were you saying?"

Toushiro, who was sitting next to them, sighed. "Listen, I have the same schedule as Harry. Do you just want our timetable so you can find us at every class we go to?"

Behind Colin, Harry and Ron were energetically signaling him to be quiet. Ron was even mouthing: 'Shut up!', but it was too late.

"Gee, thanks!" said Colin. "That would be great! But are you sure you don't need it?"

"Nah," said Toushiro "I took Kurosaki's. He won't even notice." He handed Colin a timetable.

Colin was at a loss for words. "Oh my gosh, Harry Potter's timetable!" He ran out of the Great Hall, waving it in the air excitedly.

"Wow. Didn't expect that kind of reaction," said Toushiro.

"Oh, great," groaned Harry. "What was that for, Toe-shro? Now he's really going to be annoying."

"It's _Hitsugaya_, not... whatever you called me," corrected Toushiro. "And I didn't give him our timetable."

"Huh? Then what did you give him?" said Ron.

"I took it from Kurosaki. He actually stole two timetables from these twins that were trying to pull a practical joke on him."

Ron laughed. "Probably my brothers," he said "But he's got to be something if he can steal something from them. They know almost all the tricks."

"Anyways, nice one... Toushiro," said Harry, pronouncing his name more slowly. ("It's Hitsugaya," muttered Toushiro under his breath) "You guys are kind of okay. Ichigo too, even if he was a Slytherin."

"Hey, speaking of which," said Ron "Ichigo, Rukia, Renji and Hermione are sitting down there. Guess they didn't see us."

"Let's tell them to sit here-"

"Ichigo Kurosaki, NO magic is to be used in the Great Hall!"

Everyone in the vicinity turned to stare at Professor McGonagall, walking quickly towards Ichigo and his friends with a stern look on her face. Then, almost simultaneously, everyone stared at her poor victim.

Ichigo winced slightly and looked up sheepishly. "Hey there, Professor!" he said brightly. "Did I do something wrong?"

"I know it's your first day, so I'll let you off with a warning, but no magic, especially nothing dangerous like fire, is to be used in the Great Hall or the corridors," she said in a no-nonsense sort of way. Many people were confused. They hadn't seen a fire.

"It wasn't really a fire," insisted Ichigo "And I had it under control." He glanced at the table and leaned forward in an attempt to cover it up. Everyone followed his gaze to see a huge black mark on the table and his plate. What used to be his food were merely ashes now.

Hermione shot him a look and apologized quickly in his place. "Sorry Professor," she said "It won't happen again!"

Pretending not to hear Hermione, the professor said, "Under control? Really? Is that why your tie is singed and your food is burnt?"

"Yeah, well..." Ichigo scratched his head. "I was trying to warm it up, but it didn't really, uh, work out." He gave her a huge grin. "But I'll be a pro at this in no time! Don't worry!"

Almost everyone who saw him smile so innocently felt like smiling or laughing too, especially the girls. Lavender even sighed lovingly. Professor McGonagall was the only exception. Her hard steely eyes wiped the smile off of his face.

"If this happens again, just keep in mind that I will have to punish you, Mr. Kurosaki," she said and walked away.

"Phew," said Ichigo. "Good thing she didn't notice, or else I'd be in huge trouble."

"Notice what?"

Ichigo jumped. "Holy cr- When did you get there?" yelled Ichigo.

Toushiro shrugged. Ichigo noticed Harry and Ron behind the captain and all three of them sat down.

"Notice what?" Toushiro said again.

"Er," Ichigo lowered his voice. "The hole in the table?" He pointed to a coin-sized gaping hole, the outer rim burnt black. It had gone through the plate and if seen closely, had also burnt a hole in the floor.

"Hey," Renji greeted them casually. "By the way, the food here's great, who's in charge of all this stuff?"

Hermione, eyes blazing, said, "The sweat and tears of workers who don't get paid made this breakfast. The injustice and unfairness of the world made this breakfast, the..." she continued what seemed to be a well-practiced speech.

Ron moaned as Hermione started her rant on 'the unfairness of house-elves' and how 'it's disgusting how we treat them like slaves' and such.

While the others were distracted, Toushiro interrogated Ichigo. "We're not trying to attract attention, remember? We're surrounded by wizards! What were you thinking, trying to use a spell?"

"Well," Ichigo interrupted in a quiet voice. "It wasn't really a spell, because those require wands and a bunch of words, right?"

"Wait... So you used a cero?"

"Just a tiny one, didn't think anyone would notice."

"A _tiny_ cero," Toushiro repeated in exasperation. "You realize those things were invented to blow a hole through people, right?"

"I'm just trying to make the best out of my hollow powers, all right? Man, you're always overreacting, Toushiro."

Was he suggesting that possibly killing all the students they had sworn to protect in a single blow wasn't something to get angry about? Toushiro ran his hand through his hair. "Anyways, try not to use your hollow powers anymore. You might have to pay for it later," he said so quietly Ichigo had to strain to hear him.

Ichigo rolled his eyes. "Yeah yeah, whatever you say, Mom." Looking around, he noticed many people getting up, including his friends to head to their classes. "Come on, let's go to class."

Toushiro glared at his back, then packed up his bag and caught up to them. Ichigo was already attempting a conversation with Rukia, who seemed miffed about something, and became more so when a fourth-year Hufflepuff girl 'bumped' into Ichigo and started flirting with him.

Behind them, Hermione, Ron, and Harry were walking a bit slower so they wouldn't be overheard. It was their first time talking in private since Grimmauld Place.

"I wonder where Hagrid is," said Hermione worriedly.

"I heard he was on some sort of mission for the Order," replied Harry.

Ron looked around before answering, "Maybe it's got something to do with the shinigami? I mean, what if he was sent to recruit them, or maybe just to find them?"

"If shinigami do exist," said Harry "Do you reckon they'd side with the Order, or Voldemort? If they side with him, they could definitely hurt our chances of defeating him..."

Hermione replied, "Just to be sure, we should factor them in as a wild card. For all we know, they might not choose either side."

Harry nodded seriously. "Do you think they can use magic?"

Hermione racked her brains. "I read somewhere once that they could use kidou."

"What's that?"

"It's a form of magic that doesn't require any wand, but most of them are either extremely difficult or basic. They aren't very varied and you need to utter a very long incantation until you get the hang of it. Then when you're more advanced, you can just say the name."

"Magic without a wand..." said Harry thoughtfully. "That would definitely come in handy."

Hermione shrugged. "Like I said, they aren't very varied. The basic ones take years to perform without the long incantation, and all it really does is shoot a fire blast at your opponent." Then a thought seemed to pop into her head. "Like what Ichigo did..."

"Wait, so... Ichigo can use kidou?"

Hermione shook her head. **(A/N: Did I scare ya?)** "No, I was there, and I honestly don't know what he did. He didn't say a word, and I don't remember him taking his wand out at all," she said. "One minute he was complaining that his food was cold because we'd arrived late, and the next, there's a huge burn mark on the table."

"There's something weird with him alright," said Harry. "Remember during the Sorting, the hat started to say 'Gryffindor' but then it was almost like something interrupted him and he chose Slytherin instead."

"Maybe we should keep an eye on him," said Hermione, climbing the marble staircase.

Harry and Ron looked at each other and nodded in agreement. Only a few meters behind them, a white-haired figure emerged from behind a suit of armor.

"Those kids are suspecting him already?" Captain Hitsugaya said to himself. "Stupid nosy humans. They're only going to get themselves in trouble."

No one was around, so he semi-shunpoed (his gigai prevented him from using it to its full extent) to take an alternate route to class.

Rukia stared at a wall. Was the door concealed? She pressed a hand against it and frowned. It didn't seem like it was. "Where is the damn class?" she said loudly to no one in particular.

"Oh well, looks like we can't find the class," said Ichigo, yawning. "Let's just skip it."

Suddenly, Renji jerked his head upwards and stared at the ceiling. "Did you hear giggling coming from up- Hey! There's a trapdoor!"

Ron and Harry now joined them. "Yup, Divination class is up there, and they can hear every word you've said," explained Ron. "By the way, where's, uh, what's-his-name... Toushiro?"

A ladder came down and nearly hit Ichigo on the head. "Whoa! Watch it!" he exclaimed, looking up to see Parvati Patil blushing and giggling. Her face then disappeared from the opening of the trapdoor.

He turned to Ron. "He was behind us so I thought he was with you guys."

"He was behind you? We thought he was with you guys."

"..."

"Whatever," grunted Ichigo. "He can take care of himself. He's always disappearing somewhere anyways. But where's Hermione?"

Ron gave a look full of meaning and Harry smirked. "She doesn't take this class anymore," he said simply.

Ichigo tested the first rung of the rope ladder and climbed up, peering at the top. "...This is definitely not my type of place," he sighed, fully climbing into the hot and stuffy room. The smell reminded him of the old ladies at the hair salon his mom used to go to.

"Welcome," came a dreamy-sounding voice behind him. "Class has just started."

Ichigo, not realizing anyone was behind him, was startled for a moment when he saw a figure with huge eyes peering at him and his hand automatically flinched slightly towards where his zanpakutou normally was. After a second look, he could see that what he had assumed were her eyes were in fact giant glasses.

Now Renji climbed up. "Where's the teach- What the heck!" He caught sight of her right behind him and he literally jumped backwards into a small table, knocking it over. A small wave of laughter went through the class, and Renji saw that they were all sitting on brightly-coloured large cushions, two to a table. Ichigo laughed loudly at Renji and then quickly went to find a table before Renji got up and killed him.

Now Rukia climbed up to see Renji tangled with a table. "That's the second time in the last twenty-four hours, Renji. Shoud we buy you a helmet or something?"

A few classmates giggled as Renji growled and she casually stepped over him to sit with Ichigo, but Renji got up hastily and took the pouf by Ichigo first. The class laughed again. THese new students were like a well-rehearsed slapstick comedy or something. Rukia rolled her eyes and decided to take the table next to them when she recognized a shock of white hair a couple tables down.

"Oh, Hitsugaya!" she said, surprised. Ichigo looked to who she was talking to. "How'd you get here already?" Rukia sat down next to him and took out her divination book on dreams.

"Took a shortcut," he responded.

Harry and Ron took the table in between Ichigo's and Toushiro's and Professor Trelawney began the lesson.

As she spoke, Ichigo flipped through the book for the first time. He snickered quietly to himself. The entire class was about _fortune-telling_, he finally understood. And it wasn't even good fortune-telling; it was more like luck and guessing than anything else. Every page he read sounded more ridiculous than the last.

"...Use _The Dream Oracle_ to interpret each other's most recent dreams. Carry on," finished Trelawney. All that talking and that's all she asks us to do, thought Ichigo.

"Okay, what did you dream about last night, Renji?" he asked, partially knowing the answer.

Renji opened his mouth to tell him, then hesitated and closed it again. Yeah right, he wasn't going to tell Ichigo of all people what he dreamed about. He'd never let him live it down and Rukia was just a couple tables down too. He had to think of something quick... something manly...

"I, uh, last night I dreamed that I ate more than Vice-Captain Omaeda in an eating competition, then I defeated Captain Zaraki in a sword fight, and then, uh, I lifted some weights," he hurriedly recounted.

Ichigo raised an eyebrow. Renji had had a nightmare last night- he knew that for sure- and from what he had heard him say in his sleep, the narcissistic Yumichika had been in at least one of them. "Anything else?"

"Nope."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, yeah, so what's it mean?"

"Probably means that you're going to be eaten by a giant marshmallow or something," yawned Harry, leaning slightly towards their table. Ichigo and Ron snickered loudly.

"So what'd you dream about last night, Ichigo?" asked Renji.

Ichigo only felt uncomfortable for a moment, then grinned and said, "Dreamed about killing you."

As he expected, the others took it as a joke. Renji glowered at him and said, "Oh yeah? Well I dreamed last night that you drowned!"

"Well in my dream you got squashed by an elephant!"

"In mine you were hugged to death by a giant teddy bear!"

"In my dream you were strangled by Justin Timberlake!" Ichigo paused "...Hold on, that's a step backwards,"

Renji and Ichigo's faces were inches from each other, but they had been talking so quietly that only the nearby tables could hear them. As Renji opened his mouth to retort, he paused.

"Wait, who's Justin Timberlake?" he asked.

"I don't even know," shrugged Ichigo. "Just thought it sounded cool."

They sat back down. "So should we look up our dreams?" said Renji, although the tone of his voice suggested otherwise.

"Nah, let's just make up a bunch of stuff," said Ichigo. "Any suggestions, Harry?"

"Yeah, predict someone's death," he said wisely. "She loves predicting people dying."

Ichigo smirked. "That should be easy," he said, grabbing his quill. He began writing.

"Whoa, whoa!" said Renji. "And just whose death are you predicting, Ichigo?"

Ichigo looked at him as if he were an idiot. "Think about it for a while, stupid. Which person in this room got strangled by Justin Timberlake?"

Ichigo actually had hoped that Renji would lose his cool, but instead he started scribbling furiously on his page.

"Hmph. Don't worry, you'll get it now. Just wait until I'm done recording this dream!" said Renji excitedly with an evil glint in his eye.

"Those two seriously need a life," said Rukia as though exasperated with the pair of them, although she had a bemused expression on her face.

"Doesn't look like anyone else thinks they do," said Hitsugaya almost absentmindedly without looking up from the tiring book.

Indeed, Rukia caught some of the students, who all happened to be girls, tittering and whispering secretively to one another while glancing frequently at Renji and Ichigo. This really ticked her off for some reason.

Toushiro slammed the book shut and sighed. "That might have quite possibly been the most idiotic book I've read in my life. This class had better end soon..."

He reached over to his bag to put the book away when he noticed something strange. He checked the inside of the bag. The money, books, mirror, toothbrush, floss and comb were all in the right places, but something was wrong. He checked the hidden pocket in the side containing his pills to change into shinigami form, his cell phone, and hollow bait used for diversions.

"Weren't there five hollow baits?" he muttered to himself. He recounted them. There were three. Toushiro thought back. He hadn't used any yet... Oh no. He checked the money. All of it was there. Then what did he give to Ichigo?

"Ichigo!" he called out. Ichigo turned around.

"Yeah?"

"What did you do with the, uh, coins I gave you?"

"I bought a quill off a first-year. Why?"

"Hey Toushiro, what's wrong?" asked Harry. "You look kind of pale."

"Matsumoto's never going to let me hear the end of this," he replied absentmindedly, gazing out the window.

"What did you do?" said Rukia and Renji at the same time.

"I've given an eleven year old two hollow baits," he said just loudly enough for Rukia to hear. Her jaw dropped.

"Wha-what?" she hissed.

"Don't you dare tell Ichigo and Renji unless you absolutely have to. They don't respect me enough already. Tell our next teacher I wasn't feeling well." He grabbed his bag and ran out of class, muttering a few hasty words to excuse himself to Professor Trelawney.

Rukia groaned. She explained to a few curious students that Toushiro wasn't feeling well, but she gave Renji and Ichigo a look meaning 'I'll tell you later'.

As class ended, and Toushiro still hadn't returned, Rukia started to become worried.

"Hey, Rukia!" said Ichigo, not bothering to use the ladder and jumping down silently, startling Ron.

"Bloody hell!" Ron said, gazing down in admiration, and feeling slightly inferior as he went down the ladder one step at a time.

Rukia turned around. "Yeah?"

"What was wrong with Toushiro?"

"Yeah, I was kind of wondering that myself," said Renji.

Rukia sighed, put her books down, and punched them both in the gut using both fists.

She left them groaning and clutching their stomachs while picking up her books.

"Are you guys idiots or something? I told you I'd tell you later, so obviously it's not something I can say in public. I'll talk about it when there are less people," she said quietly, eyeing the crowd of students. She changed the topic. "What subject do we have next?"

"Hmm... Defence Against the Dark Arts. That's a pretty long name," commented Renji. "Wonder what it is. Do you guys know?"

Harry and Ron had caught up to the shinigami. "It's kind of different with each teacher," said Harry. "Everyone says there's a jinx on the job. No one's lasted for over a year so far."

"You mean they die?" said Rukia, shocked.

"No, no," said Ron hurriedly. "Well, actually, Quirrell did, but he doesn't really count, does he?"

"I don't know, but I hope this Umbridge woman is better than he was," said Harry.

"Finally, this class sounds interesting!" said Ichigo, nudging Renji eagerly in the ribs.

"Ha, don't get your hopes up, hot-shot," said Rukia. "That lady who made the speech didn't look like she was all that fun." Renji wrinkled his nose at the thought of her.

"Hello," greeted Hermione, showing up from her Ancient Runes class. She glanced at her watch. "We'd better hurry, we're almost late," she said. "Where's Toushiro?"

"He wasn't feeling well, the poor thing," said Rukia with large pitying eyes. Ichigo coughed. She could act well when she wanted to, he had to admit. He shuddered when he thought of when she had somehow managed to convince his family to take her in.

They quickened their pace and arrived in class out of breath right on time.

As they took their seats, Professor Umbridge greeted the class. "Good morning, class!" she said in her high-pitched voice.

A few people mumbled in response. Ichigo didn't say anything.

"Hm, now that won't do," Umbridge simpered. "Let's try that again now. Good morning, class!"

"Good morning Professor Umbridge!" the class chorused obediently. Ichigo caught Rukia's eye and mouthed, 'SAVE ME'. Rukia only grinned in response.

"Wands away, please! You won't be needing those today." The students reluctantly put their wands back into their bags. Ron and Harry exchanged glances.

"Now then, does everybody have a copy of Defensive Magical Theory by William Slinkhard?"

There was a general assent in the class. "Excellent," she said. "Could everyone please turn to page five and read chapter one, 'Basics for Beginners.' There will be no need for talk."

Ichigo opened the book slowly and read the first sentence. He looked sideways at Rukia for a second and went back to reading. Where was he again? He read the first sentence when he found himself suddenly curious as to what Toushiro was up to. He ripped a small piece of paper out of his book as quietly as he could manage. Luckily, Umbridge seemed distracted by something Hermione was saying.

He took out his quill and scribbled something down and passed the note to Rukia swiftly. She smirked and opened it.

_**Hey there,**_ it started, _**I already know a private place where you can tell us about Toushiro later. I've got a feeling he won't give any details anyways. How about during free period after lunch?**_

She locked eyes with Ichigo and nodded while pocketing the note. He gave her a small smile.

Their silent exchange was interrupted by Umbridge. Apparently she'd been arguing with the class while Ichigo had been distracted.

"You have been told that a certain Dark wizard has been risen from the dead," she said, her innocent air disappearing.

"He wasn't dead, but yeah, he's returned," interrupted Harry, positively glaring at her. The tension between them was so thick Ichigo felt like he could slice it with a zanpakutou.

"Harry, no!" said Hermione, which looked like, in Ichigo's opinion, she was trying to get a dog to heel.

"Let me assure you, this is a lie," said Umbridge.

"So according to you, Cedric dropped dead on his own accord, did he?" Harry spat.

"His death was a tragic accident," she said coldly with no sympathy. "There is nothing out there that will hurt you innocent children."

Ichigo couldn't help it. He laughed coldly. Not to mention loudly. Renji shot him a warning glance. "Bad idea!" he whispered.

"Is there something funny, Mr. Kurosaki?"

"Hold on, give me a sec," he said. "So if we're ever in a dangerous situation, and not necessarily a mass-murderer, but let's say, a wild animal for example, then you're basically saying all we'll be able to do is recite words from a textbook at them?"

"That situation will never occur," said Umbridge coolly. "A wild animal indeed! I don't know what sort of environment you lived in, but in the civilized world, things like that don't happen."

Ichigo tried not to lose his cool, but he could almost hear himself growling like an animal inside of his head...

Harry opened his mouth to speak, but Umbridge cut him off. "That's enough!" she said. "Twenty points from Gryffindor for the two of you." She looked at Ichigo and Harry in turn, the latter of which was staring at her as if he were trying to burn a hole through her with his will. Ichigo was scowling, as usual.

"This class is bullshit," he said quietly, but somehow everyone in the class heard him. Rukia smacked her head. He's dead, she thought. Everyone turned to Umbridge, surveying her reaction. To everyone's surprise, she smiled widely.

She scribbled something down. "You two, up here please," she said, her voice sounding like a little girl again. Harry got up angrily. Ichigo got up more casually. She handed them a pink note. "Take this to Professor McGonagall please."

"Sweet," Ichigo said spitefully while looking directly into her tiny eyes. "Get to miss the rest of this class."

"Hold on, I'm just adding something to the note," Umbridge said sweetly. She scribbled more down, more furiously this time. Ichigo rolled his eyes and when she was done, snatched the pink paper and slouched out of class. Harry followed, evidently angry, and slammed the door loudly.

"Now then." The toad-woman had regained her cool. "Back to reading please."

"I don't believe Ichigo did that!" said Hermione quietly to Rukia. She looked very worried.

"Yeah, he's kind of hot-headed," she replied. "Don't worry, they'll be fine." Just then, she felt a change in the spiritual pressure around her. Apparently Renji felt it too; he froze just like her.

"What's wrong?" asked Ron. Rukia could feel Toushiro changing into shinigami form. Was the hollow bait activated? Renji whirled around to Rukia for an explanation, but she couldn't give him one in front of all these people.

"Huh? Oh, I've just got this feeling sometimes, you know? When it feels like something bad's going to happen?"

* * *

**lol i was listening to justin timberlake while i was writing, if you're wondering... **

**I'm letting people WITHOUT ACCOUNTS review! Pleeeeeeeaaaase review if you read this sentence. It can be a criticism or a thank you or whatever! Thank you soooo much to those that have reviewed! You're the best!**


	5. Keeping Oneself Busy

**Whoa, it's taking longer and longer to update, eh? I'll bet you thought i was dead or something. **

**(hinted) pairings:  
-No Yaoi, just in case you missed it before :)  
-Ichiruki  
-one-sided Renruki  
-i have no idea who to pair Toushiro up with... Honestly, it's not like in the manga he displays affection for any girls except Hinamori, but i already wrote he thinks of her as a sibling... whatever, i could change it. But i'll take suggestions on his girlfriend!**

**Aaand here's Chapter 5!**

* * *

The silence felt like it was weighing down on Rukia. It was almost painful to have to sit in class, unable to do anything without arousing suspicion. At least she was faring better than Renji. He couldn't stop himself from fidgeting and agitatedly glancing out the window frequently. While Umbridge seemed occupied with some paperwork Rukia closed her eyes and concentrated on Toushiro's reiatsu.

It was surprisingly easy to sense it. Although there were thousands of students with dense reiatsu around her, something in Hogwarts made her more sensitive to their spiritual energy. She felt like she could feel every prick of energy emanating from each student. Though this was fascinating, she had other things to focus on.

Rukia nearly fell out of her chair. She had been focusing so closely on the reiatsu of the people in the school that when her unusually reactive mind picked up the captain's frigid spike of energy, it caught her off guard.

She marveled at how well she could perceive his location just based on his reiatsu. He was definitely in his shinigami form, but he wasn't using shunpo. His enemies must be weak, reasoned Rukia. No reason to worry. There were a few, but they were so far away, and Hitsugaya's reiatsu masked it almost completely so that she could hardly notice them.

What do I do, Rukia thought. She opened her eyes. Fortunately, her daydreaming had gone unnoticed. She glanced at the clock **(Do wizards have clocks? Magical ones, maybe?)**. Still fifteen minutes left until class ended, and then it was lunch.

"First Toushiro, then Ichigo... we're making so many mistakes on our first day," she muttered under her breath, resting her elbows on the desk and burying her head in her hands.

Maybe Chappy could cover for me, she thought, and then I could help out Hitsugaya. The hand closest to her bag twitched involuntarily. No, she reasoned. Chappy could attract unwanted attention (as if they hadn't gotten any) and the wizards would be able to see her if she became a shinigami in the middle of class.

Besides, she was sure Ichigo, who was already out of class, would notice and help out as soon as he was done with McGonagall. He did used to be the captain of the third division, after all, and was bound to have keener spiritual awareness than her.

Ichigo hadn't noticed a thing.

Though normally he would've recognized the fighting reiatsu of a captain-class shinigami, his fury nearly blocked all his senses. He could practically feel the anger clouding his mind. He didn't even pay attention to the fact that his eyes were practically _glowing_ yellow.

On the outside, however, besides his normal carelessly handsome scowl on his face, he betrayed no emotion and compared to the expression on Harry's face, looked quite impassive.

Suppressing emotions was a bit harder for Harry, but Ichigo had done it all the time in Hueco Mundo. Before he'd been brainwashed, he'd planned to deceive Aizen and stab him in the back, and he'd had to control his expression many times so that Aizen wouldn't realize that he was not on his side. Of course, it hadn't worked...

"Sorry, I wasn't really paying attention to the beginning of the argument, but I'm kind of confused," said Ichigo suddenly. Harry slowed down his angry pace, turned around to face him -just as Ichigo's eyes faded into a dark brown- and took a deep breath

"Yeah? About what?" There was still an edge in his voice.

"Like who's this 'Dark wizard' the fatty was talking about earlier? Did he kill that guy- what's his name- Cedric?" Although Toushiro had studied the wizarding world and their history and whatever else, Ichigo was clueless and had no idea if Rukia and Renji were the same way.

Harry's mind flashed back automatically to a scene he'd seen many times in his dreams during the summer. Cedric Diggory's face looked frozen in a shocked expression but his eyes were cold and empty, seeing nothing.

"The dark wizard we mentioned earlier was Lord Voldemort." Harry looked up to see Ichigo's reaction, but he obviously didn't recognize the name. "He's the most powerful one there is- besides Dumbledore, of course. He's the most feared person in our world. During his time, he killed lots of people, both muggles and wizards. Last year, he came back, even though everyone thought he was dead," said Harry.

"Huh," said Ichigo casually. He really didn't look like he cared, causing Harry to stiffen slightly.

"Well, we're here," Harry said sharply, nodding his head towards McGonagall's office.

"Hey, I didn't mean to-" Harry ignored him and walked towards the door. This ticked Ichigo off, as he was already in a bad mood.

"I don't know much, but I'm pretty sure it's polite to look someone in the eyes when they're apologizing," he growled.

They glared at each other for what seemed like an eternity, but finally Harry gave in.

"You're right," he apologized. "I'm just in a really bad mood, but it's not your fault."

"Yeah, me too, I guess," confessed Ichigo. "And-"

Before Ichigo got to say anything further, however, the head of Gryffindor house opened her door.

"Potter! And Kurosaki, too! What is the meaning of this and why aren't the two of you in class?"

Harry started glowering again. He said, "Professor Umbridge sent us."

"Sent? What do you mean by that?"

"A giant marshmallow invaded our class, made the roof cave in, and trapped us all in there but we managed to break free and our teacher sent us to get some help," said Ichigo sarcastically. "Sorry," he muttered right away, seeing the look in his teacher's eyes. "Bad day, you know?" He promptly handed her the pink note from Professor Umbridge as they entered her office. She unfolded it carefully and began to read.

Finally she said, "Well? Is this true?"

"What is?" grunted Ichigo.

"Is it true that you shouted at Professor Umbridge?" It was directed to Harry.

"Yes," responded Harry.

"You called her a liar?"

"Yes."

"Really? Must have missed that part," yawned Ichigo. The other two Gryffindors in the room ignored him.

"You told her that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named has returned?"

"Yes."

"I'd hate to have a name like that," commented Ichigo lightly. "Guess their mom couldn't think of anything."

McGonagall sighed. She could already tell this new student was going to make life extremely difficult for her.

"Kurosaki," she said in the most calm voice she could manage. "Do you mind stepping out for a moment while I talk with Mr. Potter? Just a _moment_, mind you, and don't you dare run off."

"Yeah, sure." Ichigo closed the door behind him and he could vaguely hear the lock clicking on the other side.

He stretched his arms and yawned. "That teacher's definitely going to make life difficult for me," he sighed. The anger had almost completely subsided and that's when he noticed a spiked reiatsu.

"Toushiro! Dammit!" He stepped forward automatically, tensing. "How long has this been going on? Stupid teachers..." Pausing for a moment, making sure he knew where exactly Toushiro was, he immediately sprinted silently down the hallways.

Inside the office, Harry continued his discussion with McGonagall.

"Have a ginger snap, Potter," she said and handed him a tin.

"Er, sure, I guess." He reached into the tin and pulled one out, but didn't eat it.

"Potter, you need to be careful," she said in a hushed voice. "Misbehavior in Dolores Umbridge's class could cost you much more than House points and a detention."

I have detention, he thought. Great. Then he thought about what McGonagall really said.

"What do you-" he started to say.

"Use your common sense, Potter. You know where she comes from, you must know to whom she is reporting." She glanced at the note. "It says here you and Mr. Kurosaki have been given detention every evening this week, starting tomorrow."

"Every evening? But Professor, couldn't you-"

"No, I couldn't," she replied curtly. "She is your teacher and has every right to give you detention. You will report to her room at five o'clock tomorrow. Remember: tread carefully around Dolores Umbridge."

Harry shrugged. Ichigo must've already been rubbing off on him.

"Here, take another biscuit."

"No, I'm fine, thanks." But she persisted until Harry finally took another one.

"Did you listen to Professor Umbridge's speech at the feast, Potter?"

"Yeah, she said something like, 'progress is prohibited' or something like- well, what it meant was that the Ministry of Magic is trying to interfere with Hogwarts."

McGonagall fixed him with a stare. "Well, it's a good thing you listen to Hermione Granger at any rate... All right, you may wait outside my office until I'm done speaking with Mr. Kurosaki and then..."

She stopped. She had opened the door for Harry and Ichigo was nowhere to be found. "Didn't I specifically say not to run away?" she sighed to herself, shaking her head in both aggravation and amusement. "Pass on the news of the detentions to Mr. Kurosaki when you see him and head back to class. Oh, and notify me as well. I'd like to say a word or two to him."

Ichigo headed into the boys' washroom, quickly checked if anyone was around, and headed into one of the stalls. Locking the door, he searched through his bag when his hand closed upon a familiar-shaped badge.

Taking out the Substitute Shinigami badge that he hadn't used in almost half a year, he pressed it to his chest and the body of Ichigo Kurosaki fell onto one of the walls of the stall.

"Huh. I haven't been a shinigami since all that Hueco Mundo crap," thought Ichigo out loud. He looked down at his robes. He was relieved to see they were back to their normal black, looking like they had before he had become an espada and a captain. He kind of missed the captain's cloak he got to wear over his robes, though.

"OK, wizards can see me, so I'm going to have to sneak out real carefully." He left the washroom and shunpoed in the corridors. He nearly ran into a school spirit, but quickly ducked behind a statue before she could see him in his shinigami form. Since classes were still in session, he didn't encounter anyone else.

He spotted an open window down the hall and leaped out of it, heading towards the Forbidden Forest. This close, he could feel some other spiritual energy: lots and lots of hollows. He grabbed Zangetsu's hilt and quickened his speed. He entered the Forbidden Forest, shunpoing quickly, but dodging the many trees.

Deep in the forest, Toushiro was getting sick of all the hollows. The first-year that had had the hollow bait accidentally sat on the it, crushing them and summoning many, many hollows. He had had to flare his energy drastically to lead them away from the school.

"Soren Sokatsui!" he yelled, and he fired two powerful blue blasts at the horde, leaving two blank rows in the sea of hollows. At the same time, he held his sword in a backhanded grip and pierced a spider-like hollow in the head. Pulling it out instantly, he switched his grip again and slashed another hollow exactly in half.

After purifying hollow after hollow, and still finding himself facing hundreds more, he finally activated his shikai.

"Sit upon the frozen heavens, _Hyourinmaru!_" A serpentine dragon made entirely of ice appeared. It flew at the hollows, freezing and subsequently shattering each one it touched. The temperature dropped drastically in the surrounding area. Frost was forming on the leaves that were scattered on the ground and then a fierce cold wind whipped them around.

While Hyourinmaru continued killing the enemies on its own, Toushiro joined in and slashed one after the other. The hollows were no match for the captain.

He recognized Ichigo's reiatsu coming closer as more and more hollows practically poured in.

In his anger, both the ice captain and his dragon sped up but it seemed as though no matter how many they killed, more kept coming. He clutched the hilt of his sword even harder, let out a loud battle cry, and struck the hollows with more force than necessary as more and more hollows started disintegrating around him. Each let out a pathetic scream before they vanished completely.

His sword could hardly be seen as he changed tactics and jabbed each hollow only once in the skull. But no matter what he did, it seemed as if the number of hollows wasn't decreasing.

"Damn it... At this rate... Some of the hollows are going to notice the school..."

"Not if we send them all to Soul Society!" A glowing blue crescent appeared out of nowhere, killing a handful of hollows simultaneously, cutting through several thick trees, and finally fading away. "Yo, Toushiro," smiled the ex-captain of the third division, Ichigo Kurosaki.

"Don't just stand there grinning like an idiot!" the tenth division captain commanded. "If they get past the border of trees, it's all over!"

"Right," Ichigo responded. He jumped down from the tree he was perched in, holding his sword with both hands above his head. He brought it down swiftly before he reached the ground and it cut through a hollow and ran straight into the earth. The large sword came down with so much force that all the hollows in the area automatically stepped away.

"Kurosaki, strengthen your reiatsu!" yelled Toushiro. "If you don't, they might notice the school."

"I don't get it," complained Ichigo, firing off a few more of his Getsuga Tenshous at the hollows. "They should get hollows all the time around here since they've got an entire castle full of people with reiatsu."

"Oh please, don't be so naive, Kurosaki," said Toushiro with gritted teeth, as he changed his fighting style again. He stayed still and waited for the hollows to come closer, and then when he was completely surrounded, he thrust his sword out, and whipped it around in a full circle so that everything in his zanpakutou's radius was sliced in half. "How could wizards know about the existence of hollows if they've never seen a shinigami?"

"Oh... right."

"The wizards are just as ignorant as you are. They don't even know that their magic repels hollows instinctively, like insect spray. But if the hollows realize that wizards have even more spiritual energy than regular spirits, well..."

"We're screwed."

"You could put it that way. Of course, the wizards could probably defeat them easily, but then two worlds that shouldn't meet may collide. Where there are hollows, there are always shinigami."

Toushiro exhaled. "OK, I've had enough of these hollows." With that, he struck the ground, and a large wave of ice erupted from the tip of his blade, freezing countless hollows. He repeated the action three more times until the monsters started to get the hang of dodging it. He sent out his ice dragon from his sword again, but this time it was longer, and there wasn't just one. When four finally emerged, he directed them using his hands, and they flew at the hollows rapidly.

As hollows all around him turned to ice, Ichigo took care of the ones that were getting away. Sending a Getsuga Tenshou towards one out of his reach, he slashed his sword in an X-formation, killing two hollows, and in the same movement, pierced another's underbelly.

Trees were getting torn down all around them by the hollows and sliced apart by Ichigo. Eventually a large area of the forest was completely barren, and mostly covered in ice and fallen trees. Without the tall structures blocking the way, the ice captain's dragons were able to move even more swiftly and freely, and the hollows had nowhere to hide.

While Toushiro dominated the ground, Ichigo jumped up into the air and hunted down the flying ones. He chopped off one's arm, thrust his sword into another's wing, and cut a rather large hollow's leg off. All three fell to their deaths, screaming in pain.

At this point, many of the hollows began to back off and return to Hueco Mundo. Their numbers finally seemed to be diminishing when Ichigo noticed a wrinkle in the sky just meters away. The wrinkle grew longer and finally, a small rip could be seen forming.

Ichigo stared at it, not believing his eyes, and trying to wish it wasn't real. The reiatsu coming out of the rip in the sky, however, was definitely real.

"Toushiro, we have a slight problem up here."

"Kurosaki, please tell me that reiatsu isn't what I think it is."

"Hey, I'm no mind-reader, but if you were thinking of a Menos Grande, congratulations, you've guessed correctly!" Ichigo yelled sarcastically, backing away slightly to see the tear in the space in front of him grow larger and a bony white hand creeping out.

"There's no way the school _can't _notice that if it comes out!" said Toushiro with wide eyes. "_Especially_ during break. It's probably around lunch right now, right?"

"I don't know, I don't have a watch!" He paused. "...Do wizards and shinigami normally have watches or clocks? How do you guys tell time if you don't have batteries for clocks? Maybe they have magical clocks, or something..."

"Kurosaki, this isn't exactly the time to be telling me about your idiotic assumptions with shinigami! We have to kill that Menos now!"

"Well, duh, I wasn't exactly planning on having a tea party with it."

"No, that's something you'd do with Aizen."

"Shut up." Ichigo's face turned red.

The giant hollow roared loudly, more than the combined cacophony of the smaller hollows.

Ichigo glanced towards the school. "You too, shut up," he told the Menos Grande.

He stepped forward towards the giant hollow, whose head was poking out of its tear in the sky slowly, and sliced off its head in a single blow. The place suddenly seemed empty.

"Huh. Where'd all the small hollows go?" he said nonchalantly.

"They were most likely frightened by the sudden appearance of a Gillian," answered Toushiro. "Let's hope no one at the school has seen it."

_Half an hour ago..._

The bell rang throughout the school. Rukia and Renji bolted out of class and ducked behind a corner. "OK, Rukia, take care of Toushiro's body," commanded Renji. Rukia nodded.

"Ichigo's helping him out now, but you should go just in case," she suggested.

"Good idea." Renji went left, towards the Great Hall, and Rukia turned right.

"Hey, Renji!" Ron called out. He was walking with Hermione. "Where are the others?"

Renji scratched his head nervously. "Rukia went to visit Toushiro in the hospital wing to see if he's all right," he said. "Ichigo... I don't know, maybe he's eating, or sleeping, or reading, or something. He disappears a lot, even at our old school."

"Maybe we'll meet them all in the Great Hall during lunch," said Hermione.

"Yeah, uh, maybe," Renji said. He decided to walk with them to the Great Hall and then excuse himself so he could help the others.

"Honestly, that Umbridge woman makes me so mad!" Hermione was saying. Renji and Ron joined in on complaining about her way of teaching, and how unfair she was.

They finally reached the Great Hall and Renji was about to ditch his two friends. "Hey, I-" He stopped. "What is that delicious smell?"

He breathed in deeply and realized that he was hungry. I can't do anything when I'm hungry, he thought. I'll just join them after eating a quick bite.

After eating a chicken pot pie, butter and bread, ten chicken wings, a turkey sandwich, and several helpings of mashed potatoes, Renji remembered his friends. The ones that were fighting off monsters. Oh shoot, he thought. Now I'm too full... I can't risk throwing up. I'll wait ten minutes in the common room with Ron and Hermione. Then I'll _really_ go.

As he chatted with Ron and Hermione like old friends, he realized that they were getting along really well, in a different way than his relationship with Ichigo. Maybe it was the lack of killing intent...

He looked around to see if anyone had on a watch so he could ask for the time. He had no idea how much time he had left. No one in his range seemed to have a watch. He was so used to everyone having watches in the living world it seemed strange that no one had it here. Did they even have watches here? Magical ones, maybe?

"Mimbulus Mimbletonia," said Hermione, and the Fat Lady granted them permission to enter.

In the common room, they decided to start their homework they'd received from Professor Trelawney and Professor Umbridge, since Hermione insisted that Snape would give them a large amount in the afternoon.

After taking out his quill, Renji realized that he had to go.

"You know what? I'll be right back, I'm just going to check on Rukia and Toushiro," he said, lifting himself reluctantly from the chair.

"OK," said Hermione just as Ron said, "See you later."

Renji pretended to walk casually to the common room door, but once he got out, he walked as quickly as possible to the nearest washroom, where he would change into a shinigami.

Spotting one, he looked around. There was someone in one of the stalls, but they were almost done. He went into one of the stalls and locked the door. He waited until the boy had left, and then swallowed a spherical pill.

"Shoot, my body's in the hospital wing," Toushiro said, ticked off. Seriously, was every day going to be as annoying and tiring as today? "It'll be hard to get back in."

"I'm going to go get mine in the washroom and then I'll help you," Ichigo said.

He ran off and narrowly avoided a crowd of small twelve year old girls. He used shunpo to hide behind a suit of armor, but while most of the girls were busy talking loudly, he could see one particularly small girl with pigtails following him with her eyes. For a minute, he thought he was discovered when she stared intently at the suit of armor. If she came over to get a closer look, he was doomed.

Luckily, she seemed to think the invisible blur was in her imagination. She shook her head slightly and joined in on her friends' conversation.

After that incident, Ichigo didn't have any trouble making it to the boy's washroom, although he wasn't sure if anyone was in there. He took cover behind yet another statue of some famous wizard.

"What if I walk in on someone like this?" he said thoughtfully to himself, and gestured to his shinigami robes and his rather conspicuous giant sword. "Oh! I'll just search for reiatsu!" He focused on the location in front of him. Perfect. No one was in there.

He slipped in like a shadow and found the stall his body was in, but couldn't decide how to get in.

"I think I jumped out last time... I was in such a rush I don't remember. But what if I land in the toilet...?" He stood there, contemplating what to do, but couldn't make up his mind. He was interrupted by the sound of footsteps coming towards the washroom. Without thinking, he jumped with his enhanced jumping ability and landed right on the edge of the toilet seat. His body was on the toilet, leaning on one side of the stall for support. He got into his body and even flushed the toilet for added realism just as Renji entered the washroom to change into a shinigami.

Renji looked around the washroom, heard the flushing toilet and the zipping of a fly, and went into one of the stalls. He closed the door just as Ichigo opened his just a couple stalls down. He washed his hands and left, not knowing he and Renji were in the same room.

Toushiro looked around, but there was no indication as to what time it could've been. No windows were around, and no students passing by had a watch. Not even a magical watch. Of course, he didn't have a very good view of the students, seeing as he was hiding behind an ugly statue of a stupid-looking wizard. Why put this next to the hospital wing, he thought. This'll be the first thing people will see after they've recovered.

"Psst! Toushiro!" whispered Ichigo. He appeared to be leaning on the other side of the statue.

"It's Hitsugaya, not-"

"Whatever. Listen, I'll distract the nurse, and Rukia will distract whoever else is in there. Then you come in and get back in your body, OK?"

Toushiro nodded. "By the way, where's Abarai?"

"..."

"..."

"Oh well, who knows? He's probably slacking off or stuffing his face," said Ichigo.

Meanwhile, Renji was standing in the large barren part of the forest all alone. No hollows, and no shinigami. It was obvious, however, that it had been evacuated recently. The ice had hardly even started to melt, and some of the hollows were still struggling to survive, although it was obvious they weren't going to make it.

Renji sighed. "There is someone up there that just doesn't like me," he said and he started his long journey up to the castle.

* * *

**Gah... I'm too lazy to edit, although usually my grammar's ok. Seriously, I spent all my homework time on this tonight, so read it and be grateful that I failed a class to bring you this!**

**Do you think I seem like i'm trying TOO hard to be funny? I hate stories like that, and i don't wanna be one of those. just tell me if i do, it won't hurt my feelings or anything. i need criticism because i don't have like a beta or someone to red it over, so YOU have to tell me!**

**OMG I NEVER EXPECTED THIS MANY REVIEWS! I feel like... rich, or something. I'm lovin' it! Thank you to each and every one of you! Every time I get one, and i know this sounds cheesy, but my day actually feels brighter. By the way, reviews actually remind me to write the next chapter, so if you want me to update, send reviews or i'll forget and the story will sit in my computer and get all old. :D**

**I still need a copy of Harry Potter 5! It's the only one I don't have, and I happen to be writing a story about it... I should've gone with sixth year...**

**Thanks again for all the compliments on my writing! I hope it's improving, and not getting worse or more boring. Suggestions for the story are welcome, though i can't guarantee i'l use them. So far, however, i'm keepinig your comments in mind and trying to write the story accordingly. **

**I'll try to write again soon...**


	6. Eating English Food

**Alright, two chapters in a month! well hardly, because it's the last day of the month, but does anyone really care about things like that? **

**I did a disclaimer at the beginning of the fanfic, and i really doubt i need to repeat myself, cuz i'm sure **_**everyone**_** thinks i'm tite kubo! (sense my sarcasm. i'm in a sarcastic mood)**

**Last pairings reminder (all are hinted, nothing serious for a while):**

**-Ichiruki**

**-onesided Renruki**

**-onesided everysinglegirlintheschool x Ichigo XD**

**-EDIT:: Toushiro x no one... srry everyone**

**Umm anyways what happened last time...? Oh yeah, Renji misses out on all the action and is really pissed off, and Toushiro's in the hospital, aaand... Ichigo and Rukia said they were gonna create a distraction for Toushiro. Here's chapter 6! (...i think i've written the word 'sarcasm' a lot in this chapter haha.)**

* * *

Ichigo ran out of the hospital wing in a panic as quick as his feet could take him without using shunpo. Rukia was hot on his heels.

"You know, I get the feeling we might have caused a bit _too _much of a distraction," yelled Ichigo sarcastically behind him**.**

"Nooo, what makes you think that?" retorted Rukia with just as much sarcasm in her voice.

Behind them, several screams came from the hospital wing. They both winced. Ichigo turned around suddenly and Rukia accidentally ran into him.

"Watch where you're going, midget!" he said to her.

"Hmph."

"Did you really need that anvil? I mean, I'm pretty sure the mutant monkeys were more than enough," he complained. "And if anyone gets hurt by that giant waffle, we could get into some huge trouble from both the school and Toushiro."

"Never mind the giant waffle, what about that chicken?" asked Rukia nervously.

"Yeah, I didn't really anticipate it throwing the watermelons. I thought it was just trained to juggle them."

"That's not really important right now, Ichigo," she hissed. "...Captain Hitsugaya is sneaking out!"

"Good, our plan worked."

"He doesn't look very happy, does he?"

"Not at all. And is he holding that hammer with teeth?"

"I knew I shouldn't have armed the monkeys with those..."

"Hmm. Looks kind of dangerous-" Ichigo backed away slowly and abruptly sped off in the opposite direction.

"Ichigo! You idiot, where'd you go!" Rukia yelled angrily, her head turning side to side looking for him when she realized he'd disappeared.

Seeing the murderous looking captain coming her way, Rukia copied Ichigo's movements by backing away slowly, then ran down the corridor, hollering, "Ichigo, wait up!"

Toushiro seethed. When the Kurosaki kid had said they were going to provide a distraction, well, he wasn't sure what he was expecting, but obviously something a bit less extreme! He was more of an annoyance than a murderous killer. He straightened his red and gold tie and rearranged his perfectly spiked hair.. He didn't know if the potions teacher was strict or not, but in any case, he had better get going.

Ichigo practically tumbled down the stone steps of the cold dungeon. He had pushed countless students, some of which looked extremely scandalized. He hurried into Potions class, panting and out of breath.

If Snape had been there, he'd be dead.

Fortunately, Snape was running late himself, as the crowded hospital wing was on his way to class, and unless one was blind, it was fairly difficult to not notice the disaster that had stricken.

Renji was there already, looking like he was in a foul mood until he spotted Ichigo. "Ha! What happened to you?" he laughed. Ichigo glowered at him.

Harry looked at him closely. Where had he gone during their meeting with McGonagall? He'd told Ron and Hermione what happened after he'd met up with them in the common room and he could tell they were wondering the same thing. They exchanged glances instead of voicing the actual question out loud.

"Toushiro's on a rampage," he answered. "I'll explain later." He walked over towards him, and spotted some of the Slytherins that had sat at his table at the first feast. He recognized a flash of sleek white-blond hair that he knew at once belonged to a certain Draco Malfoy.

Ichigo had immediately despised Draco. His stupid arrogant face and the way he talked about his father like he was his god really pissed him off. Ichigo had been sorely tempted to punch him in the face, but instead settled for directing a large amount of reiatsu towards him. It had actually worked and Draco had shut up. Ever since, Draco had avoided Ichigo's gaze.

Draco seemed to be in the middle of saying something to Harry that made him and Ron look furious. Hermione, as usual, calmed them down and Draco noticed Ichigo. An almost frightened expression passed through his face for a split-second which greatly satisfied Ichigo.

Instead of continuing the verbal war with the Gryffindors, he started talking with some of his 'friends' who surrounded him like he was their king or something. Ichigo didn't know why he had so much influence on them. Maybe his dad really was powerful. That would be something to look forward to- beating up Draco and his father. From what he heard coming out of Draco's mouth, he wanted to kill them both.

A couple Gryffindor boys noticed the strange effect he had on Draco and whispered amongst themselves. Harry himself made a mental note to ask him how he'd managed to discipline Malfoy when the Slytherins weren't around. Ichigo merely ignored them and sat down next to Renji, rubbing his face and looking very exhausted.

"So how'd it go?" asked Renji.

"Great," Ichigo replied sarcastically.

Harry, not knowing about the hollows, assumed they were talking about Ichigo being sent to Professor McGonagall.

"Oh right that reminds me, Ichigo," he cut in. "McGonagall wants to talk to you." Ichigo groaned. She'd slipped his mind completely..

"Damn, I forgot about her," Ichigo admitted. Hermione raised an eyebrow. "So what's our punishment?"

"Detention every evening this week with Umbridge," Harry scowled.

"What?" Ichigo yelped. "Are you serious?" In his head, he was already trying to think up a plan to escape using whatever leftover items he had from the hospital wing assault. Although, he thought, if he did create another distraction, Toushiro would really blow his top...

"Unfortunately, yeah I'm serious. And what were you doing all this time anyway?"

"Me? I was... checking on Toushiro in the hospital wing. He looked fine, so I wasted the rest of my time exploring this school. Man, it's huge."

"By the way, where is he?" asked Renji. "And Rukia for that matter."

"They're on their way to kill me," Ichigo replied calmly.

"What did you do?" asked Ron.

Ichigo scratched the back of his neck. "Long story."

"If you went to the hospital wing, did you see the accident? Apparently a majorly insane prankster destroyed the place!" Ron exclaimed. "It was huge, I'll bet even Fred and George are green with envy."

"How did you know that?" asked Ichigo. It had only happened minutes ago.

"Rumors travel quickly around here," Ron shrugged. ("On the first day too, honestly!" said Hermione while shaking her head disapprovingly.) "I heard even that famous chicken from Diagon Alley showed up!"

"Whoa, seriously?" said Harry. "The one that juggles watermelons? How'd they get a hold of it?"

"They must be some kind of super genius, I guess," suggested Ichigo with a small smirk.

Renji glanced at Ichigo. Ichigo shot him a quick mischievous smile which Renji took to mean Ichigo was the culprit, and probably Rukia too.

At that moment, Rukia burst into the class sweating and huffing just like Ichigo. Every head turned to look. She slammed the door behind her and without looking at any other student, made her way to Ichigo in what seemed like one swift motion. Malfoy was pleased to see that she looked angry.

"Renji, hold my bag for me."

"With pleasure," he said smugly. Ichigo put his hands in front of his face apologetically, but maintained his usual scowling expression.

"Rukia, I promise you that I didn't mean to leave you behind, it was nothing personal anyway."

"Why the hell did you leave me back there? I could have been murdered!"

Before the furious shinigami could attack him, the door banged opened a third time and both Ichigo and Rukia fell silent. It felt as though a cold icy wind had entered the class through the open door. Malfoy even sneezed.

Toushiro's ice-cold anger reached all the way to the other side of the classroom, where he met Ichigo and Rukia's slightly fearful gazes. He started towards them when he sensed someone behind him.

Severus Snape looked right back at Toushiro. Normally it would have intimidated any other student, but Toushiro looked just as scary. Snape noticed the badge on his chest. _Oh joy. Another Gryffindor._

Snape scanned the class. They seemed to be recovering from a small shock. Perhaps it was the new student? He had detected a strong sort of force coming from him earlier...

"Settle down. Five points from Gryffindor for being late," he said and walked to the front of the class. "Now find yourself a seat or it'll be another five points."

Toushiro raised his eyebrows and didn't move. The teacher had been even later than him. For a moment, all the Gryffindors held their breath, hoping he'd just sit down. He shrugged his shoulders and sat at the table next to Harry and his friends. They felt just slightly uncomfortable sitting in the middle of the obvious tension between Toushiro and his friends.

"Erm... Are you feeling all right?" asked Hermione concernedly.

Toushiro nodded. "Slightly furious, but other than that..." He shot a look of anger towards his shinigami friends, who carefully avoided his eyes.

"Ah, and I see we have several... new students," commented Professor Snape with a sour expression. "Take note, I'm not the type to make exceptions and will still expect you all to meet the standard, and at the _very_ least scrape an 'Acceptable' on your O.W.L.s or suffer my... displeasure."

Behind him, Ichigo could hear the round-faced boy (Neville?) gulp in fear. At this point, Ichigo's mind drifted off as he started thinking of ideas to somehow escape class before the bell rang and Toushiro murdered and/or lectured him. He wasn't sure which he'd rather have.

"Start."

Wait, what? All the students around him were immediately rummaging in their bags, clearing their tables and gathering the materials. Ichigo looked at the blackboard. On it were extremely detailed instructions.

"You, Kurosaki. Stop sitting around and start following the instructions. That'll be ten points from Gryffindor," said Snape.

Ichigo opened his mouth furiously when someone's hand covered it up and all that came out was a muffled noise rather than the long stream of protests and swearing. He turned his head to see that it was Rukia, who put her hand down and wiped it on his shirt. ("What do you think you're doing, midget!")

"Sorry, Professor. He'll get going right away!" she said cheerily. Snape merely sneered and stalked off.

"You'd better get started, Ichigo," she warned him and turned around to get her ingredients.

"Wait, does this mean you're not mad at me anymore?" Ichigo scoffed. "You can't hold a grudge, can you?"

"Oh I can, believe me," she replied. "But I figure Toushiro will do it for me anyway."

"True..." He looked up to the blackboard as Rukia walked away. For their first Potions class, they'd gotten an extremely difficult potion.

The ingredients had to be added to the cauldron in precisely the right order and quantities; the mixture had to be stirred exactly the right number of times, firstly in clockwise, then in anti-clockwise directions; the heat of the flames on which it was simmering had to be lowered to exactly the right level for a specific number of minutes before the final ingredient was added_._

Ichigo sighed. Potions wasn't going to be his favorite class, that was for sure.

After Ichigo had gathered all the necessary ingredients, Renji bumped into him too forcefully to be accidental. All of his ingredients flew out of his arms and scattered on the floor.

"Why you-"

Renji snickered and got started on his potion. Ichigo glared at him. He was definitely going to get revenge. When Renji's back was turned, Ichigo dumped a bunch of random things he'd found into Renji's cauldron and then hurried back to his own.

With ten minutes left to go, the silver vapor that was supposed to be rising from the cauldrons was only rising from two: Hermione's and Toushiro's, who was- not surprisingly- excellent in Potions.

Ichigo hadn't cooked in a long time. For the past few years his younger sister Yuzu always took care of things like that. He was beginning to regret it though, since Potions reminded him greatly of making some kind of soup. Instead of a fine mist coming from his cauldron, Ichigo had somehow managed to create a golden, transparent fizzy liquid in his cauldron.

Some of the others were even worse off. Neville's had become completely solid. Ichigo wondered for a second how he would be able to clean out his cauldron.

Ron's potion looked like acid; it was green and spitting out sparks. It looked rather dangerous and Ichigo immediately grew wary of it.

Harry's wasn't too bad, he thought. Definitely not right, but it didn't look like something murderous, at least. Instead of mist, it looked like dark grey smoke was coming out of his pot.

Next to him, Renji was having some difficulties. His liquid appeared to be eating up the cauldron and it was bubbling madly. Sometimes a drop of it would fall on the floor or on Renji and whatever it touched would immediately melt or catch fire. He'd had to ask for help from Toushiro right away. Ichigo had a bit of difficulty suppressing his laughter.

"Not my problem," Toushiro grunted.

"Come on, please?" Renji said pleadingly.

Ichigo didn't think it was a good idea to approach him for help at the moment, however. Toushiro was obviously in a dangerous mood. As it turned out, Ichigo was right. Toushiro took out his wand and pointed it at Renji's potion, which was on the brink of destroying his cauldron.

"Thanks, Toush-"

"Evanesco," Toushiro muttered under his breath. The entire potion disappeared, leaving a slightly smoking half-destroyed cauldron behind.

Renji's jaw dropped. "What the hell was that for? I just wanted you to fix it!"

"Remember this, Abarai: I can tolerate stupidity at the best of times, but I'm never going to waste my time fixing other people's mistakes."

Ichigo snickered. Renji threw a glare at him. "Well at least I didn't make... whatever that is," he retorted.

"Better than nothing," said Ichigo, shrugging and staring pointedly at Renji's empty cauldron.

Hermione looked at Ichigo's potion and sniffed it. "Ichigo, I think you've created ginger ale!"

"Huh?" Ichigo stared at it. It did kind of look like ginger ale... He dipped his finger cautiously in it, causing many students to stare at him in astonishment. No one had ever dipped their finger on purpose into a potion that had gone wrong! Who knew what disastrous effects it might have?

But Ichigo of course, being his normal reckless self, not only dipped his finger in it, he put it in his mouth and tasted it. Luckily, Snape was busy bullying poor Neville, but everyone else in the class stared at him, waiting to see what would happen to him.

Nothing did.

Ichigo looked thoughtful for a second. "No, it's not ginger ale, but it tastes kind of like warm champagne," he concluded. He used a ladle to scoop some out. "Here, wanna try?" he offered Hermione. She shook her head.

"I'm fine, Ichigo," she declined, laughing slightly. Ron frowned a bit at this. She was starting to sound like all the other girls in the class.

Professor Snape started to come their way. He looked at Hermione's and Toushiro's perfectly made potions and then passed over them, making no comment. Toushiro took this to mean he'd done it right.

He looked at Ron's potion and looked disgusted. He made a few snide comments and remarks to him and then moved on to Harry, leaving Ron seething.

"Did you do everything on the third line, Potter?" Snape questioned menacingly.

Ichigo saw Harry leaning forward to read the board and saw his face react slightly when he read his mistake on the board.

"No," he mumbled, barely audible.

"I beg your pardon?"

"No, I forgot the hellebore." Harry was avoiding his eyes.

"I know you did, Potter, which means this mess is completely worthless. Evanesco."

Snape flicked his wand and used the same spell Toushiro had used. Ichigo glared daggers at the Potions Master. Harry's potion wasn't half as bad as some of the others. Harry looked furious too. It just wasn't his day. Snape walked over to Rukia's cauldron.

Rukia had done her potion well, but she'd taken so much time in precision, she hadn't gotten past the second line of instructions. Of course, Snape had noticed.

"We don't appreciate wasting time around here," he commented. Rukia's mouth tightened in response but otherwise said nothing. Ichigo thought she rather looked like she wanted to slice Snape in half with her sword. He wished she would.

"And where is your potion, Abarai?"

Renji, who had been teasing Rukia, suddenly turned serious.

"It vanished," he said simply.

"I can see that. However, it is very rare for potions to merely _vanish_ on their own accord normally."

Renji opened his mouth in frustration, but quickly closed it.

Snape wrote something on his clipboard looking like a circle. "I suppose you couldn't even gather enough intelligence to put anything in your cauldron? That's a zero for you, Abarai."

Renji didn't say anything and shot him a dark look that Snape didn't miss, though he chose to ignore it.

"Stupid flimsy shallow-bottomed cauldron," Renji grumbled under his breath. Ron and Harry looked at each other, smiling for the first time during the class.

"OK, I admit it, I was wrong. Some people _do_ care about shallow-bottomed cauldrons," Ron sighed. Then he looked sulky. "But I suppose that stupid _git_ has moved on since then." Harry didn't say anything. Percy was a touchy subject at the moment for the Weasleys.

Snape looked at Ichigo next and Ichigo mentally braced himself.

"Kurosaki." Snape stared at his potion in what seemed like repulsion. "What are we trying to make today in class?"

Ichigo looked at the title on the blackboard, although all the smoke and mist in the class made it a bit difficult for him.

"The Draught of Peace," he read out loud.

"Correct. What have you made?" Snape asked.

"Champagne, but it wasn't intentional," Ichigo answered coolly, staring him straight in the eyes. Snape frowned. What was with these new students? It was like they were convinced that they were more powerful than him. He hated it.

"The point of the potion is to calm anxiety and nerves. I don't know how you went so terribly wrong-"

Ichigo interrupted him. "Well technically, depending on what kind of drinker you are, my potion can do that too." Several people laughed.

For a moment, Snape saw James Potter instead of Ichigo Kurosaki. Harry recognized the look he gave Ichigo: it was the look of loathing he usually reserved for Remus, Sirius, and of course, himself.

"That'll be twenty points from Gryffindor for your cheeky attitude, Kurosaki," he snapped, quieting the laughter immediately. "And don't make it any more. Everyone who _has_ done the potion somewhat correctly, fill up a flask and label it with your name. Bring it to my desk so I can mark it. Your homework is twelve inches of parchment on the properties of moonstone and its uses in potion-making, to be handed in on Thursday." Most of the class groaned.

Ichigo looked like he was going to say something but Toushiro interrupted. "Just shut up for once in your life Kurosaki. Seriously."

Ichigo looked irritated, but followed his leader's orders anyway. He didn't want to get into any more trouble with Toushiro.

At dinner, the entire school was buzzing excitedly about the incident in the hospital wing.

"Who d'you reckon did it?" asked Ron through a mouthful of chicken.

"If it wasn't Fred and George, then I have no clue," said Harry. "But I'm kind of grateful."

"Huh?" interjected Ichigo. "Did you just say you were grateful the hospital wing got trashed?" He nudged Toushiro lightly with his elbow to catch his attention.

"Well, yeah. Everyone around here already thinks I'm a nutter, and what with the row we had with Umbridge, that definitely wouldn't have helped things. If that accident hadn't happened, I expect that you and I would've been the main topic for discussion, and I'm really not in the mood," Harry answered.

"Yeah, I'm glad not as many people are staring like they were earlier. Huh. Looks like something good came out of it after all!" said Ichigo a little too loudly to just be talking to Harry. Behind him, Toushiro rolled his eyes.

"And no one was hurt either, eh?" added in Rukia, also loudly. "It was taken care of in a snap!"

"Shut up and eat your dick," Toushiro told them.

The reaction was instantaneous. Ichigo spluttered on his food and Rukia spat her pumpkin juice across the table. Luckily no one had been sitting there, but she wasn't paying attention.

"S-sorry? Did Toushiro just say that?" Ichigo said, still recovering from the shock.

Renji was also surprised by what Toushiro had just said, but hid it by drinking some more pumpkin juice.

"Hitsugaya!" was all an astonished Rukia could say.

Ron, Hermione, and Harry were talking quietly amongst themselves and didn't notice anything going on around them. They had serious expressions on their faces like they were discussing something important.

Toushiro sighed. "Could you be any more mature? What you're eating right now is called spotted dick. It's food."

"Wait." Ichigo paled. "So all this time I've been eating..." He pushed the plate away. "You know, I think I'm going to skip that."

"Spotted dick isn't actually what you're thinking..."

"Never mind, just pass me that plate of sausages and mashed potatoes," interrupted Ichigo.

"Funny how when he mentioned the spotted dick, you thought immediately of a-" started Renji. Rukia cut him off by whacking him on the head.

"You don't talk about things like that at a table, Renji!" she scolded.

"How do you know so much about these things anyway, Toushiro?" asked Ichigo.

"I studied."

"That's it?"

"Yes. And in case you were wondering, you're eating _bangers and mash_ right now."

Ichigo choked on his food. Rukia had to pound him hard on his back.

Ichigo vaguely noticed a group of Slytherins- Malfoy included- on the other side of the room laughing at his predicament but he really didn't care. They were too chicken to do anything else.

Something that ticked him off, though, was the snickering of some of the Gryffindors. None of the girls were laughing. In fact, they looked concerned but didn't do anything since Rukia was taking care of it.

Great. The guys hated his guts and the girls were going to annoy him to death.

Toushiro snorted in amusement. He brought over two more plates of different sausages. "Try some _blood pudding_, Kurosaki. If you don't like it, you can always eat _toad in the hole._"

"First those hopping chocolates, now this? What the hell is wrong with these people...?" Renji muttered, turning green.

"Like we should be talking," scoffed Rukia.

"That reminds me," Toushiro said. "We haven't had an actual proper discussion alone together yet, have we? I believe the one in the Headmaster's office was rudely interrupted." He glared pointedly at Renji.

"Oh, sorry."

"Ichigo, let's show them our room. We can probably speak in private there," suggested Rukia.

"_Our _room?" emphasized Renji. "What, do you guys share a room now?"

"Don't be an ass, Renji," Ichigo replied immediately. "Ron's brothers showed me a hidden broom cupboard this morning on the seventh floor that they used once to hid from that custodian guy, what's-his-name..."

"Filch."

"Yeah, him. Anyways, I went back again to find a distraction for Toushiro." At this point, Ichigo lowered his voice. "I was going to see if there was anything in the broom cupboard, but it was a whole new room!"

"Yeah," added Rukia. "There were all sorts of cool stuff inside. It was actually kinda fun to pick out weird things to use on the hospital wing."

The corners of Ichigo's lips twitched upwards, contradicting his crossed arms and angry eyebrows. "No one even knows about that room. It'll be perfect."

Toushiro nodded.

"But not tonight," said Ichigo. "We've already gotten in enough trouble for a day. Oh, and it'd be best if it was after my detentions, which start at 5 for the next week."

"Well, this makes up the smallest bit for your incompetence, Kurosaki."

"So are we off the hook then?" asked Ichigo hopefully.

"For now. However, keep in mind that our mission is to _protect_ the students, not kill the injured ones."

"None of those things were dangerous!" protested Ichigo.

Toushiro pulled out the hammer with teeth again. "Would you like to test that theory?"

"You know, I think I'll pass."

00000

"My master..." Bellatrix Lestrange hissed through her mask. "Is all that he is claiming the truth?" She knelt down in front of a large ornate chair while staring through the corners of her eyes at the strange new man.

"It is indeed," replied a high, sinister voice. "And why are you asking, Bellatrix? Do you believe that perhaps this stranger has hoodwinked the Dark Lord? I, Lord Voldemort?"

"No! Of course not, master!" she said hurriedly, though she continued to glare suspiciously at the man.

The man's warm brown eyes turned to Bellatrix, who immediately flinched. "Not to worry- Bellatrix, was it? This alliance will prove beneficial to the both of us," Sousuke Aizen smiled politely.

He was wearing a strange sleeved white cloak with a collar that had been flipped up. They were open to reveal white v-neck dress robes lined in black. A red ribbon was wrapped around his waist. His brown wavy hair was slicked back except for a strand that hung in his face.

"I still see doubt on your face. Perhaps you do not think me and my followers are strong enough?"

There was silence. The wind outside howled eerily, and rain pattered lightly on the roof, but no one was focused on anything like that. All the Death Eaters were staring at her, wondering what she would say on behalf of them all. Bellatrix didn't dare say anything with the Dark Lord in front of her, but her face held her answer anyway.

"The shinigami have come, and will be seeking to team up with the wizard community. I will be taking care of this new threat by proving to them that shinigami are dangerous. I admit, you people are very powerful, but you have no knowledge of the shinigami. In a fight against them, unless you know them inside out, there's a large chance you won't win."

"And what's in it for you?" interrupted one of the male Death Eaters in the circle.

"The same works in reverse. From my perspective, the shinigami are powerful enough to pose a menace to my plans. Throw the wizards in, and my comrades and I are in an extremely vulnerable position," he answered. "Which is why I believe we should unite before they do. By ourselves, we don't stand a chance. By becoming one, we can eliminate both."

In the shadows, Gin Ichimaru smirked in amusement. He didn't know the depth of Aizen's plans yet, but he knew he was only spouting crap for the alliance. Although everything he was saying so far was the truth, he was certain to have another motive behind it all.

"What are the terms? Bellatrix, you may return to your spot." added Voldemort coldly. Bellatrix Lestrange looked as if she would protest for a moment, then seeing his merciless red eyes, thought it through, stood up slowly and walked to her place in the circle reluctantly, not wanting to leave her master's side.

Aizen nodded, a smile on his face. "Firstly, the Death Eaters must obey my orders as well as yours. In return, my arrancar and army of hollows will be at your disposal."

A few whispers ran through the circle. "Silence," commanded Voldemort hardly louder than a whisper, but they immediately fell quiet.

"Secondly, neither party is to make a pact of any sort with the enemy. If anyone does, the alliance will be cancelled immediately." No one interrupted this time, so he continued.

"Thirdly, all actions will be discussed and agreed upon before taking place. And lastly," Aizen paused. "I know the two of us have been thinking the same thing since we first brought it up. We've been surveying each other's strengths and weaknesses, not wanting to be stabbed in the back. So the last agreement is that once we have won this war and gained complete domination over the enemy, the alliance will officially end. Whether my comrades and I leave in peace or not depends entirely on your strategic decisions after it ends."

"So basically," said Lucius Malfoy. "We can attack each other immediately after we've helped each other win the battle."

"It could be perceived in that fashion, yes," confirmed Aizen.

Now everyone stared at the throne. "We agree to these terms," said Voldemort, but his voice was slowly fading out...

"Harry! Are you all right, mate?" Ron was slapping Harry on the face.

"Huh? Ron!" Harry said. He sat up straight.

"You were all sweaty and white, Harry, and muttering to yourself! Blimey, you had me worried to death," said Ron.

Harry indeed noticed his T-shirt was sticking to his back and he felt something, probably sweat, trickling down his neck. But he wasn't paying attention. Something important had happened, and the dream was slowly disappearing in his mind.

Harry closed his eyes. "Voldemort... He's made an alliance, Ron."

His eyes widened. "What? An alliance? With who?"

"I- can't remember. But they want to defeat the shinigami," Harry said with certainty. "There was a man... in white."

"Sh-shinigami? Harry. I think you should tell Dumbledore about this. And Snuffles, too."

"Dumbledore? He doesn't even look or talk to me anymore, but I guess I don't really have a choice. This could be really important." The two friends discussed what Harry had seen in low voices, hoping not to be overheard, although one small shinigami could catch every word they said.

Toushiro lay in his bed in silence. Renji was snoring in the bed next to him, and he could hear Ichigo thrashing about in his sleep a few beds down. It looked like he'd need to report to Soul Society sooner than he'd originally thought. Aizen was already taking action, and so would they.

* * *

**Wow, my first fanfic is doing pretty well! Thanks everyone for reading and reviewing! Anyone with or without an account can review, so as long as you are able to read my story, you should be able to review too! (so no excuses for not reviewing)**

**Halfway through this chapter, i figured out a way to read the fifth harry potter book online, but i will be changing a lot of stuff still. I'm gonna be mushing a bunch of other years into this one, so they're probably gonna have a second yule ball (even though it goes against the harry potter code of ethics), early RonxHermione, and since i know almost everyone likes GinnyxHarry, Cho's gonna have a onesided love. Besides, we all know who he's gonna end up marrying anyway. other events wil also take place earlier or later. Just thought i should warn ya.**

**Haven't started the next chapter yet, so send me reviews for encouragement! Thanks again for reading and (you'd better be) reviewing! :D**


	7. Detention with a Toad

**Hehe... I know it's been forever... what's up? I hope people are still reading this fic! Btw, thank you to everyone who reviewed! It feels amazing to know that someone out there is reading! ****sorry for the late update but i doubt you wanna hear my long list of excuses. **

**Right... so I had a Toushiro's girlfriend mini-poll last chapter (EDIT:: if you don't know what i'm talking about, it's cuz i deleted it). Here are the results:**

**Hinamori- 6 votes**  
**Matsumoto- 6 votes**  
**No one- 6 votes**  
**Karin - 2 votes**  
**Hermione- 2 votes**  
**OC- 2 votes**  
**Harribel- 1 vote**

**Hoo boy... a three-way first place tie :S **

**Also, to ****RmfD****, I am still using your idea but I haven't thought of a good way to introduce it into the story yet so bear with me please if you're still reading this fic!**

* * *

"Er... Did you want to see me, Professor McGonagall?" asked Ichigo after their Transfiguration class. He approached her desk as the bell rang.

Ichigo was certain that his Head of House wasn't too pleased with him and his suspicion was confirmed when she narrowed her eyes ever so slightly when seeing him approach her.

Now that Ichigo was occupied, it was Toushiro and Renji who were surrounded by the horde of girls. After being with the same people for five consecutive years, most of the fifth-years were all excited to see someone new. It helped that they were very interesting and good-looking. After only a couple days, they'd become extremely popular.

Toushiro ignored them and tried to focus on calculating how many more days were left in his damned school year. Unfortunately, it didn't stop Lavender and Parvati from following right behind him and talking about him as if he couldn't hear them.

On the other hand, Renji had seemed to like the attention at first until he spotted several Ravenclaw boys escorting Rukia out the class.

"You have such pretty eyes!" complimented one.

"Can I get the door for you?"

"Let me hold your bag, Rukia!" Rukia personally thought they were all weak idiots, but she took advantage of the fact that they were head-over-heels in love with her and acted as gracious as she could manage by smiling, nodding her head and laughing at their stupid jokes. Without the slightly intimidating presences of Ichigo and Renji around her, many of the boys didn't seem frightened anymore to approach Rukia.

For some reason, Renji was in a sour mood for the rest of the morning.

As Rukia walked through the door that a Ravenclaw boy was holding open for her, she looked back to see if Ichigo was coming. Much to her annoyance, she found that he wasn't even looking in her direction and was preoccupied with the teacher. Rukia turned her head forwards again with her nose slightly in the air and she let her escorts lead her to their next class.

"Yes, Mr. Kurosaki," McGonagall finally replied once all the students had left. She started stacking the papers on her desk as she spoke. "I believe you have heard that you are to receive a detention every night this week with Professor Umbridge?"

Ichigo's eyes darkened at the reminder. "Yeah, I heard," he grunted. "What about it?"

"I understand that it is only your first week here at the school, however that only makes your actions all the worse. I do hope that a student from my house won't be causing an extreme amount of trouble, Mr. Kurosaki," she said sternly. "You have already been given special treatment from the Headmaster by switching houses, something which has never been given to any student in the history of this ancient establishment."

If Professor McGonagall had been expecting some sort of astonished or touched reaction on Ichigo's part, she was mistaken. He looked as unfazed as ever, with a look on his face saying, 'Get to the point, lady'.

"This will be your last warning. If I hear of any more trouble from you, Mr. Kurosaki, you will certainly have to worry about more than a week's detention with Dolores." McGonagall then paused.

"Yes?" Ichigo prompted.

"Are you good friends with Mr. Potter?" she asked. Ichigo thought it a rather odd question.

"Erm... Yeah, I guess," Ichigo answered uncertainly. Where was she taking this?

McGonagall nodded sternly. "Then I should advise you too to tread carefully around Dolores Umbridge. Do not give the Ministry any reason whatsoever to have anything against you, do you understand me?"

Ichigo nodded slowly, thinking. "So why does the Ministry hate Harry anyways? What happened there?"

McGonagall pursed her lips. "Those are questions to be answered at a later time, Mr. Kurosaki. Now off you go to your next class!" Ichigo stared at her for a minute but she maintained the same expression. He then nodded again and shouldered his book bag.

"See you around, McGonagall," he said to her with his back turned. Then he ran out the door to catch up with the others. He'd thought he'd seen Rukia with a bunch of other guys...

Professor McGonagall watched him leave then sighed. "What an odd boy," she muttered to herself.

00000

Harry liked hanging out with the new students. They made him laugh and took his mind off of things. Last night he didn't have the chance to speak with Dumbledore. McGonagall had insisted it would attract too much attention and she delivered the message for him to the Headmaster. He was still waiting for a response and the suspense was killing him.

At the moment, they were in the common room. Ron had taught Ichigo and Renji how to play wizard chess, which they thoroughly enjoyed mainly for the smashing of the other player's pieces. Rukia was supervising them to make sure nothing went out of hand, as usual; Hermione was studying books at a nearby desk although she didn't have any homework while Ron and Harry, who _did_ have homework, were playing exploding snap.

"So where's Toushiro?" yawned Ron.

"He's reporting to-" Renji cut himself off as Rukia threw him a hard glance. "his grandmother," he finished. The three of them knew that the captain was actually sending a message to Soul Society, although he hadn't had the chance to tell his comrades what the message contained as of yet.

"Reporting?" Hermione asked skeptically.

"Yeah, he's got a pretty strict grandma," said Ichigo quickly, covering up for Renji. "And it's not like he has a choice. It's her who pays for all those bottles of hair dye-"

A hand shot out of nowhere and grabbed Ichigo by his own bright orange hair. The others winced.

"What was that, Kurosaki?" Toushiro said coldly.

Ichigo swore under his breath. "Oh nothing, we were just talking about how great your hair looks today, Toushiro!"

"It's Hitsugaya," Toushiro huffed. "And flattery won't get you anywhere with me."

Despite his words, he relinquished his hard grip on Ichigo's head and Ichigo plopped down in his seat, rubbing his head in pain.

Renji sniggered. "Oh yeah, don't you have somewhere to be, you two?" he said suddenly. Harry and Ichigo looked at each other and groaned in unison.

"Detention with Umbridge," Ichigo spat sourly.

Harry nodded. "Brace yourself, I doubt she's going to let us off easy."

Ichigo groaned again and grabbed his sack. "OK, let's get this over with."

"Good luck," Rukia said in mock solemnity and saluted them. "Hey Ichigo, if you don't survive can I have your room back home? I don't think your dad would mind..."

"If I die, you're not touching any of my stuff, midget!" growled Ichigo. "But according to our lovely Defense Against Dark Arts teacher, there's 'nothing out there that would hurt innocent little children' like us, remember?"

"I dunno," said Renji thoughtfully. "She kinda looks like she _eats_ innocent little children herself."

"She's got the right mouth for it," laughed Ron.

"Can you guys talk about this after we've left?" sighed Ichigo.

"Yeah, we'd better get going," agreed Harry. "See you guys later."

"Don't lose that temper, Kurosaki!" called out Toushiro after collapsing onto a nearby chair and closing his eyes tiredly.

"I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about," replied Ichigo shortly. "Let's go, Harry."

After the portrait of the Fat Lady had swung shut, Rukia looked worriedly at Renji.

"She wouldn't actually do something bad to them, would she?"

It was Hermione who answered. "Don't worry Rukia," she said reassuringly. "That foul woman wouldn't dare do anything under Dumbledore's nose. They'll be fine."

Rukia nodded seriously and started playing chess with Ron, who found that she was surprisingly good at the game.

At exactly five o'clock, the two of them arrived at Umbridge's office.

"You can knock," said Harry, gesturing towards her door.

"Ladies first," Ichigo hissed back.

"You may enter," came Umbridge's high-pitched voice.

Ichigo and Harry stared at each other for a moment before taking a deep breath and preparing themselves for the worst. Ichigo opened the door and hesitated before going inside.

Despite their mental preparation, both students had to restrain themselves from running away and/or puking.

The first thing Ichigo saw was Umbridge, wearing a pink flowered cloak that reminded him of Shunsui, the 8th division captain.

Then he saw the rest of the room. His eyes scanned them. Pink, pink, pink, and more pink. It was punishment enough to simply be present in the room. Lace was draped on the walls and on tables. A collection of ornamental plates with foul-looking kittens hung on one wall.

He exchanged a look with Harry and saw that he looked exactly like he felt.

"Good evening, students," Umbridge sang from her seat. She gestured towards a stack of blank parchment on two desks. The desks were right next to each other and each had a sleek black quill lying on them.

"You will be writing lines tonight."

"What should we write?" Harry asked through gritted teeth.

Umbridge smiled widely, showing all of her teeth. "You, Mr. Potter, will write 'I will not tell lies'. As for you, Mr. Kurosaki..." Her eyes lingered on the shinigami's face for a moment, as though examining him. "You will write 'I will obey orders'."

Ichigo frowned. That was an odd thing to write. Nevertheless, he trudged over to one of the desks and put his bag down.

"Where's the ink?" he said, looking up at her. "And how many lines do I write?"

"Oh, you won't be needing any ink," Umbridge grinned. "And keep writing until the message... sinks in."

Icihgo stared at her. What good would a quill be without ink? He started writing anyway, and was surprised to see the quill worked like a pen- with red ink.

Harry, however, walked over to Professor Umbridge's desk and asked her if he could skip detention Friday for some sort of Quidditch tryouts and make up for it another time.

Ichigo wasn't paying attention, though. He'd found out what the black quills true purpose was almost immediately. Being a fighter, he had to be able to sense an injury right when he got it, and try to prevent it. The quill was cutting his words into his hand and strangely enough, the wounds healed almost instantly after being written.

Ichigo glared darkly at Umbridge, who ignored him and told Harry he had to come to all his detentions, blah, blah, blah...

Harry looked disappointed as he sat down. Ichigo wanted to warn him, to tell him not to pick up the quill, but he couldn't with the toad of a teacher in front of him.

"Evil witch," he muttered under his breath and he doubted she could hear him, but if she did he really didn't care.

His mission was to protect every single student from harm. Especially the ones he'd gotten close with. He felt so helpless watching Umbridge smile as she saw Harry in pain.

"Is there something wrong?" Umbridge said innocently. "Why have you both stopped?"

"No," Harry said quietly. "There's nothing wrong." Ichigo saw that he looked determined to not give Umbridge the satisfaction of torturing him. Ichigo felt like yelling at him to throw that stupid pride away.

He was strong. He could take it. But Harry was just human. Why didn't he just stop? Of course, Ichigo thought, he was a Gryffindor. He wouldn't listen if he screamed at him anyways.

"And you, Mr. Kurosaki?" said Umbridge, startling him out of his thoughts. "Why have you stopped writing?"

"If we finish all these papers," said Ichigo suddenly. "Are there any more?"

Umbridge laughed out loud. "Finish them all? I'm afraid those are all I have, though I highly doubt you will be finishing them in the week, let alone tonight."

Ichigo smirked. That was all he needed to know. He bent his head down and wrote at a startling speed.

_I will obey orders._

_I will obey orders._

His hand was a blur as it flew across the page.

In less than a minute, he had finished writing on both sides of his first page, all written in his own blood. The cuts on his hand were healing right away, but he suspected if he wrote enough, they would soon be permanent. To normal humans, anyway.

Within the first six minutes, he'd completely filled ten sheets of paper.

Harry was still on his second and was staring at Ichigo in awe, who continued to write at a blinding speed.

In the first hour, he'd finished a hundred pages, more than half of his stack of papers. The scars were starting to take a longer time to heal, but they hardly hurt. Harry couldn't understand how Ichigo could look so oblivious to the pain after a hundred pages.

But Ichigo didn't slow down. In fact, he sped up. Umbridge too, was looking at him in curiousity.

Harry was working on his thirteenth piece of parchment when Ichigo proclaimed that he had finished all the pages. Indeed, each page, front and back, was crammed with writing. Many hadn't even dried yet and were glistening with his blood.

It was great to see Umbridge looked astonished, even impressed. For a moment she seemed to be debating what to do.

"Mr. Potter, give Mr. Kurosaki half of your papers," she said finally.

Ichigo had to hide a smile. If only Toushiro could see him doing this for the Potter kid! Ichigo interrupted.

"Actually, I might need to take more than that," he said thoughtfully. "At this rate, I'll be out of this class in a few minutes."

Umbridge had long since dropped her fake smile and she narrowed her eyes.

"Alright, take as many as you wish."

So Ichigo leaned over and grabbed almost all of the parchment on the bewildered Harry's desk, leaving only about a dozen for him. Harry blinked in confusion at Ichigo. What was he thinking?

Ichigo didn't look at him and instead started writing again. Harry also started writing again, but was preparing himself to catch Ichigo in case he fainted from blood loss. Umbridge also seemed distracted from her work to watch him.

In truth, Ichigo was starting to feel the sharp stinging of the quill severing his flesh, but it still wasn't anything compared to what he knew he was capable of. He also started to feel slightly lightheaded, but again, nothing serious.

At around eight-thirty, both Harry and Ichigo finished all their papers. Amazingly, the cut had healed completely on both their hands, though the skin on the back was red and raw.

"Let me see your hands," Umbridge said to them.

"I don't seem to have made much an impression yet," she said, looking at Harry's hand. "Well, we'll have plenty of time to fix that, won't we? I have a feeling the process will be much faster once Mr. Kurosaki doesn't intervene on your behalf."

Ichigo put on an innocent face. "I'm sure I have no idea what you're talking about, Professor," he said with wide eyes.

"No matter," replied Umbridge with her nasty smile again. "I have plenty of other things you can do during detentions, Mr. Kurosaki. Now off to bed with the two of you."

Ichigo smirked as he grabbed his bag and left the office. Harry paused, then grabbed his bag as well and ran after Ichigo down the hall.

Before Harry came back out, Ichigo darted into a dimly-lit corridor. His dizziness had stopped, but he didn't trust himself at the moment to answer Harry's questions. He'd handle all that later.

By now, the shinigami had all gotten to be extremely good at lying and making excuses. They only worried that with all their lies, they might get caught in one. Now Ichigo would have to invent yet another excuse as to why he could withstand losing a few cups worth of blood in a short amount of time.

Ichigo took a detour and arrived at the common room after Harry, who was in the middle of explaining to both his own friends and to the shinigami what they had had to do during the detention. When the group saw Ichigo, they looked up immediately.

"Are you okay?" asked Hermione worriedly. "I don't believe the nerve of that evil witch! Harry told us what she made the two of you do. I'm certain I'll find a law somewhere forbidding this outrage, but in the mean time I should find you two something to put on your hands. Maybe Murtlap water..."

It didn't seem like Harry had told the others yet about Ichigo's mysterious behaviour so he gave Harry a meaningful look before interrupting Hermione.

"Nah, me and Harry wrote slowly. We didn't lose much blood. Hurt like hell, though," Ichigo complained, faking a pained expression.

Harry was staring back at Ichigo with the same puzzled expression, not knowing what the other student was thinking. Ichigo caught his eye and grinned.

"So who else is hungry besides me?" he said. Rukia rolled her eyes.

"Your hand is slit open and all you can think about is food? I guess you aren't hurting _that_ badly," she said. She knew full well he'd be fine so she whacked him on the head hard as Hermione and Ron winced sympathetically.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"_Just in case_," she smirked as she grabbed a confused Harry's arm and walked him out of the common room. "Come on Harry, you look like you need some of that weird stuff you people call food."

"Why that little-" Ichigo grumbled as he stomped out after them. Renji, Ron and Hermione followed after them. The white-haired captain reluctantly tagged along, hands in his pockets.

00000

Ichigo rummaged through his bag slowly. In the darkness, he could see Renji also looking for something in his bag and Toushiro was pulling something out of his. Toushiro popped a soul candy into his mouth just as Renji found his and Ichigo pulled out his shinigami badge.

After leaving their bodies in bed, the shinigami shunpoed down the stairs, just because they could, and into the common room.

Rukia was already in front of the Room of Requirement and upon seeing them, she started pacing in front of a blank wall and muttered to herself.

"What is she-" Renji started to say but was cut off by Ichigo.

"Shut up! She's opening the room."

Surely enough, a door appeared out of nowhere on the blank wall and Renji and Toushiro blinked in surprise.

"Don't worry, I made it so only shinigami can enter," said Rukia. Seeing Renji's confused look, she proceeded to explain. "When you walk in front of the wall and think about something you want- really, really want- the room grants it."

"Are you serious?" Renji said incredulously.

"Let's get inside," suggested Toushiro. The four of them entered the room and looked around.

Ichigo rolled his eyes. He wasn't all that surprised to see little plush bunnies everywhere around the room, some even hanging from the ceiling. The room was huge. The ceiling was much higher than this section of the castle could extend and the same went for the walls. Ichigo assumed there was some kind of magic that made it possible.

"Hey, I didn't know you liked orange so much," said Ichigo, pointing at the wallpaper. "It looks exactly like the colour of my hair."

"You know, I heard this morning that amazingly enough, the world _doesn't_ revolve around Ichigo," said Rukia sarcastically.

"That's got to be the lamest insult I've ever-"

"Would you just shut up?" complained Renji. "So what was that report about anyways, Captain Hitsugaya? It must have been pretty urgent."

Toushiro nodded. "Last night, that Potter boy had a vision. Aizen has teamed up with Voldemort."

"Wait, wasn't he that-"

"He's the most feared wizard of all time," said Toushiro. "I'm currently asking Soul Society to send me some files on him. He's the largest threat to the wizarding community at the moment. Throw Aizen and his remaining espada into the mix, and you've got the end of the world just waiting to happen."

"The wizards won't stand a chance against Aizen!" groaned Renji.

"And Soul Society won't stand a chance against Voldemort," said Toushiro. "Over the centuries, we've had very little contact with their world. That makes the wizards our strongest opponent. Perhaps we are stronger. Then again, perhaps not. We don't even have enough knowledge on them to make this judgment.

"I told you before that this was a mission to protect every student in this school. We absolutely need the wizards to be our allies and must make no reason for them to regard us as an enemy. The four of us are in charge of a very large-scale mission."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"We are now not only their protectors. We are now representing the shinigami. We are peacemakers and information-gatherers. If things do not go as well as planned, we also play the role of enemy spies although hopefully it will not come to that. From now on, everyone here will send a weekly progress report on new happenings in this place, spells, inventions, anything at all about wizards. The outcome of the war depends on this mission."

"So why did _Harry_ have a vision?" asked Ichigo curiously.

"Why don't you ask him yourself?" replied Toushiro simply as he turned around and headed for the exit. His cloak billowed behind him. "Are you three going to stay longer?"

"Yeah, I need to train a bit," said Rukia. "I haven't communicated with Sode No Shirayuki in a while."

"Er... I think I'll stay a while too," said Renji, glancing at Rukia. "I need to do some training with Zabimaru."

"I'll train with you," added in Ichigo, none too keen on leaving the two of them alone in the room.

Toushiro stared at the three of them for a moment before leaving. Maybe it hadn't been a good idea to bring this combination into Hogwarts. He shrugged the feeling off. There was probably nothing more than friendship between them anyway.

Hopefully.

"I'm just going to meditate in this corner," Rukia said as she pointed to a cushion in the corner. "Don't bother me."

"Can't guarantee that," said Ichigo. "It's a huge room, but you might want to give yourself some protection."

"I can take care of that," Renji said with a confident smile. He whipped out his wand, looking a bit awkward in comparison to his normal large sword.

"Um- You know, you weren't so good at the shield charms when I saw you practicing," Ichigo said. Renji ignored him.

"_Protego_!" The end of Renji's wand let off a loud bang and they knew immediately the spell had gone wrong.

Another shot of red light came whizzing to intercept the spell and the collision created a small explosion.

Rukia coughed, waving her hand to clear the smoke. "You idiot," she muttered.

When the smoke cleared, Renji was looking rather sheepish and the tips of Rukia's fingers were smoking slightly.

"Honestly, if I hadn't pulled out that last-minute kido spell..." Rukia shot a glare at Renji ut he looked like he felt bad about it, so she didn't do anything else.

"Well at least now we know that kido can deflect wizard spells," said Ichigo. "Something to add into this week's report."

"And that Renji sucks at magic as much as he does at kido," added in Rukia.

Renji didn't reply and instead looked away awkwardly. Rukia sighed.

"Well thanks to Renji, I'm not really in the mood to meditate anymore," she said. "I'll just watch you two and make sure you don't kill yourselves, okay?"

Renji leaped up at the chance to redeem himself and he drew his sword.

"Well someone's eager for a fight," commented Ichigo, also taking Zangetsu off his back.

"I'm not going to go easy because you're rusty," replied Renji. "_Howl, Zabimaru!_"

"Tch. I could still beat you with my eyes closed."

"Want to test that theory?" Renji said.

"No bankais today, okay?" said Ichigo. "I'm not sure if Hogwarts would be able to take it."

"Yeah, yeah, you're just going to use that as an excuse for when I beat you."

Renji suddenly swung his sword at Ichigo, who raised his own quickly to block it. As their swords met, Ichigo suddenly felt a pain in his head and started seeing images that weren't taking place in front of him.

"_Sorry for the cheap shot," he smirked as Renji collapsed to the ground in his own puddle of blood. "But you didn't stand a chance anyway. If two people were fighting, and only one had the intent to kill, guess who'd win?" _

_He shunpoed to Renji's side and wiped the blood from Zangetsu on his robes._

"_Ichigo," Renji said in a weak voice. "Why-"_

"_I told you already, dumbass. Power."_

_As Ichigo began to walk away with his bankai sword resting on his shoulder, he felt a sudden flare of reiatsu behind him._

_He dodged right as Zabimaru slashed where his head would've been. The tip of the sword extended and gave him a small cut on his right arm just as he moved away._

_Ichigo clasped his hand around the wound. It healed right away as he had not given up his high-speed regeneration powers. He turned around to see Renji still standing, albeit slightly slouched, his reiatsu more dense and brighter than before. His wound had stopped bleeding._

"_Why didn't you just play dead?" asked Ichigo with a mocking smile, straightening up. "You know, like a possum. Very smart, those creatures. Unlike you."_

_Ichigo flash-stepped towards Renji with his sword raised, but this time Renji managed to block it in time._

"_So tell me, Ichigo_,_ if two people were fighting and _both_ had the intent to kill, who would win?" said Renji._

"_So you're willing to kill me, then?"_

"_If that's what it takes."_

"_Interesting." Their swords met and sparks flew out upon impact._

Ichigo blinked as he was distracted by his flashback and didn't notice when Renji pulled his sword away and swung it at him again.

"Ugh!" Ichigo received a deep slash on his arm as he pulled away too late.

"What's wrong, Ichigo?" taunted Renji, determined to look good in front of Rukia. "Are you daydreaming?"

Ichigo lowered his blade with a strange look on his face.

"I'm feeling kind of tired," he said lamely as he turned around and headed back to the common room, leaving Renji and Rukia staring after him in confusion.

* * *

**It's kinda a step backwards from spotted dick, so to make it up to you all I'll start typing the next chapter right away! (but editing itself takes like a month). I have a bunch of criticisms for this chapter, but then again that's what I say for every chapter so I'll spare you this time.**

**Another thing I know at least a few people might have noticed is that before for a while I bolded the word 'surrounded' in each chapter. Well, after publishing it I decided it was waaay overkill so i removed that again. I also noticed my little notes are kinda annoying sometimes except when they contribute to the story so I deleted all of them i think. If you don't know what i'm talking about, don't worry about it.**

**I tend to edit my chapter for the final time **_**after**_** I upload it on the site so you might wanna check back later if you read this right when it comes out.**

**My author notes are always so long haha. Just one more thing to add...**

**This time, I want you guys to give me an excuse for hogwarts to have a yule ball this year. It should have something to do with the shinigami or something they did since they're creating a kind of alternate universe in the harry potter world. Tell me in a review! Thanks for reading!**


	8. Shut Your Mouth!

**Thank you for all the lovely reviews and criticisms! Some of them were a bit hard to understand ^^' But they were all mostly positive so thank you! (well except for one... it just said 'what' and i don't really know what to make of it)**

**As you know, last chapter there was a tie for who Hitsugaya's gf should be. I didn't actually say there was going to be a tiebreaker nor did I ask anyone to vote... But some people did anyway, so here are the results I guess:**

**Hinamori: 3 (I forget who, but someone put in a -1 vote for her, so she got one less vote)**

**Matsumoto: 3**

**No one: 3**

**Umm... yeah, sorry everyone but since no one can decide and it's way too close, I'm going to say that he's not going to have a pairing. I mean, another tiebreaker? Sorry folks!**

**Uggh I always talk too much in these notes... Aaaanyways, here's the next chapter. Remember, even if you don't have an account on you can still review my story!**

* * *

"Er- that's very sweet of you Terry, but for the last time I don't need a Pumpkin Pasty," said Rukia, struggling to keep the smile on her face.

Classes had been unbelievably difficult to keep up with and it was infuriating Rukia, who was used to excelling in kido back at the academy. At this point, the many males crushing on her- which had at first been flattering- was now nothing more than an additional annoyance.

She rolled her eyes as Terry walked back to his table looking rather put out.

"Annoying, aren't they?" commented Ichigo sarcastically as he watched her reaction while sipping a goblet of water. "I'll bet you just _hate_ that all the guys in our year are falling for you."

"It's probably because she's someone new to look at," said Renji thoughtfully. "What other reason could there be?"

Rukia gripped her right fist with her left hand to put more force into her elbow, which she jabbed painfully into Renji's ribcage.

"Honestly Renji, when will you learn to shut your trap?" sighed Rukia as she picked up her spoon and scooped up some mushroom soup with slight distaste.

Renji wheezed in pain as he doubled over. "Or maybe it's because they don't know you yet," he added under his breath.

Harry and Ron entered and sat across from them.

Ichigo and Rukia waved, their mouths full (and disgusted looks on their faces at the horrid taste) while Renji was still bent over clutching his side. Harry and Ron sat across from the three of them and put their bags under the table.

"Where's Toushiro?" asked Ron, reaching over for a baked potato. "Haven't seen him since Charms this morning. He was bloody brilliant, but he's going to get in a lot of trouble if he cuts classes, y'know?"

"Toushiro went to the library. Where's Hermione?" said Rukia.

She then plucked the French fry that Ichigo was staring at from his hand and popped it into her mouth, ignoring the glare he sent her. Ichigo had recently taken to examining his food carefully before eating thanks to Toushiro. He grabbed a grape from the fruit bowl and started examining that too.

"Hermione's at the library too," replied Harry. "I don't know what she's doing in there all the time. I guess she found something new to research or something."

Renji finally sat up again and groaned. It was taking him an awfully long time to recover. "Stupid gigai," he cursed. "I shouldn't have ordered the cheapest one in Urahara's shop..."

"Huh?"

Apparently Renji hadn't noticed that Harry and Ron had sat down in front of them. Immediately, Rukia and Ichigo both raised their hands and clamped Renji's mouth shut, Ichigo's left hand on top of Rukia's right.

"Don't speak with your mouth full, Renji," Rukia said with a fake smile. "We couldn't hear what you said."

The damage had been done, but both Ichigo and Rukia waited for the other to remove their hand from Renji's mouth. Neither of them did, so they remained in that awkward position. Renji let out a muffled yell as he began to run out of air (the two hands were also covering up his nose).

"So what class do we have next?" laughed Ichigo nervously.

"...Care of Magical Creatures with Professor Grubbly-Plank," Ron answered, eyeing Renji. "But I think Renji needs to breathe-".

"Don't worry about it," Ichigo said.

Although he knew that at this point there really was no point in keeping Renji's huge mouth shut, he figured they might as well teach him a lesson. And anyways, Rukia didn't seem to mind going along with it.

Ichigo also felt that if they were to just let go of it like that, some unwanted questions would arise from Harry and Ron about what a gigai was. If they caused a little disruption, he was sure nobody would even remember what had happened in the first place. Thankfully, there weren't too many people who had come to the Great Hall yet for lunch so Ichigo didn't mind causing a small scene.

Renji turned red as he struggled to pry their hands off.

"Could you pass the gravy please, Rukia?" said Ichigo politely.

"With pleasure, Ichigo. Here you go," Rukia said just as politely. She passed it to him with her free hand and Ichigo took it with a nod in her direction.

"Thank you very much."

Renji next turned several shades of blue, much to the worry of some surrounding Gryffindor students.

"Er- I think Renji's suffocating," Lavender pointed out from next to Rukia.

"He'll be fine," Ichigo assured her just as Renji fainted and fell backwards.

"Oh no, he must have choked on his food!" exclaimed Rukia with a gasp. The people in the vicinity who had seen her and Ichigo suffocating Renji raised an eyebrow. Fortunately for the shinigami, that had only been Dean, Lavender, Parvati, Ron and Harry.

"I'll perform mouth-to-mouth on him!" shouted out a fourth-year Hufflepuff girl eagerly and everyone in the Great Hall fell silent for a moment.

Suddenly, another girl, then another, then another also volunteered to perform CPR on Renji. It was extremely difficult for Ichigo and Rukia to contain their laughter.

"I'm taking him to Madame Pomfrey. Hang in there, Renji!" proclaimed Ichigo. Excellent. An excuse to skip class. Ichigo threw Renji over his shoulders. The aforementioned Gryffindors watched with expressions ranging from amusement to bewilderment as Rukia dabbed her eyes with a napkin as though she'd been crying.

"I'll take him, Ichigo. I need to be there for him," she said with a fake sob. Ichigo narrowed his eyes. Apparently he wasn't the only wanting to skip class.

"Yeah... Well... He needs immediate care. I'm gonna go. See ya!" Ichigo left the quickly-filling Great Hall as fast as he could allow himself, but Rukia was right behind, crying her eyes out. A few passers-by glared at Ichigo, as though it was his fault the damn girl was sobbing.

Dean turned to Harry and Ron. "OK, so at first I hated the Kurosaki guy because he's a Slytherin and all. But, uh, does anyone else get the impression that the transfer students are a little strange?"

"Actually, once you get to know them they're a lot strange," corrected Ron while Harry was shaking his head in amusement.

"I-I never got to say goodbye!" sniffed Rukia outside of the Great Hall. "Let me take him! I owe him that much!"

Ichigo was about to respond when he felt something too cold and too sudden to be natural.

"You're both staying," came a frigid voice. Rukia and Ichigo turned around slowly, none too surprised to see the only silver-haired boy in school standing behind them with his arms crossed.

"Damn it!" cursed Ichigo as he tried to make a run for it with his golden ticket (Renji) on his back.

Toushiro swept his leg underneath Ichigo's feet causing said shinigami to lose his balance and fall to the floor.

"Don't worry, I'll take him for you. You two go to class." Toushiro then took Renji from him and left for the hospital wing.

"That little-" growled Ichigo from the floor. "He just wants to play hooky again."

Rukia looked up from her tissue and then promptly threw it over her shoulder. "Isn't that what _you_ were trying to do, Ichigo?" Her demeanor had completely changed from what it had been like a few seconds earlier. "And Hitsugaya's gone again! What are you going to do about that, huh?"

"Hitsugaya would've found an excuse anyways. He likes to disappear once in a while," retorted Ichigo. "Besides, I didn't want to come to this stupid school in the first place and the classes are either useless or hard. Why did _you_ want to skip?"

"We have our next class with the Slytherins and I'm staying as far away from those creeps as possible," replied Rukia.

"Huh?"

"As you pointed out earlier, many of the male students here have taken an interest in me. I think I might throw up if one of those stupid numbskulls in Slytherin fell for me."

"You know something Rukia? You might possibly be the most modest person I've ever met," said Ichigo sarcastically.

The two of them saw the Gryffindors in their year heading outside and joined up with them, looking thoroughly depressed.

"Is Renji alright?" Lavender asked worriedly.

"Yeah, Toushiro took him to the hospital wing," said Rukia. "I guess he's missing another class." Ichigo's permanent scowl deepened.

"Er, where are we going?" he suddenly said, realizing they were in the school grounds. "Shouldn't we be heading to class soon?"

"Care of Magical Creatures is outside," explained Ron. Just then, Seamus bumped Ichigo aside intentionally as he walked past them to class, causing Ichigo to drop his things on the moist ground.

"What's your problem?" yelled Ichigo furiously at the Gryffindor. Seamus turned around.

"Oh sorry, did _I _do that?"

"Why you little-"

"Cut him a break, guys," said Dean. "Seamus didn't have the greatest time over the holidays..."

Ichigo was picking up his soggy History of Magic book with disgust. "I bet they weren't half as bad as mine," he muttered under his breath.

"What happened, Seamus?" asked Parvati. She bent over to help Ichigo with his books, making Dean snort lightly. Apparently he hadn't fully accepted Ichigo as a Gryffindor yet.

Seamus paused, then walked back and helped Ichigo with his stuff as well.

"Sorry 'bout that," he said as he handed him a book. "Still in a bad mood, is all. See, me mam didn't want me to come back."

"What?" said Harry.

It appeared Seamus hadn't realized Harry was there. Upon seeing his classmate, he immediately adopted a slightly uneasy look. "She didn't want me to come back to Hogwarts."

Ichigo jammed everything in his bag and the Gryffindors made their way across the grounds again.

"Why not?" Rukia frowned.

"Well, she- er- Harry... well, not just you, it's Dumbledore too..."

"She believes in the Daily Prophet?" said Harry. "She thinks I'm a liar and Dumbledore's an old fool then?"

"Something... like that."

Silence fell upon the group. Ichigo and Rukia only had a vague sense of what was going on.

"Um... we'll go on ahead," said Rukia, grabbing Ichigo and walking faster than the rest of them. As they left, she could hear raised voices, particularly Harry's and Seamus's. The shinigami walked faster without talking.

When they arrived, most of the Slytherins were already there. They were the only Gryffindors present.

"Oh, well if it isn't the newest Mudblood in the Gryffindor house," sneered Malfoy, seeing Ichigo. Then he turned to Rukia and looked her up and down. "I heard that your lineage isn't quite as filthy as his... Too bad you didn't get chosen for our house."

The boy spoke as if being in their house was the greatest honour one could receive. Frankly, it pissed off Rukia.

"I know, I must have the most horrible luck in the world," Rukia deadpanned, resisting the urge to once again roll her eyes. "Personally, I'd rather spend a century in the Gryffindor house with nothing to do than having to be in the same house as _you_ for ten minutes!" Rukia started to continue but Ichigo put his hand on her shoulder and she paused.

He sighed. "Relax Rukia, don't waste your breath. I don't think these people even have enough brainpower to understand your insult."

Several of the Slytherins looked rather offended. Others looked downright scandalized.

Malfoy kept his cool, instead observing them coolly and reassessing them.

"Calm down you two," Malfoy ordered Crabbe and Goyle, who surprisingly enough had understood the conversation and were ready to beat the new students up to a pulp. "Let's deal with them later," he said ominously, nodding towards the approaching Professor Grubbly-Plank.

Ichigo snorted. "You do _not_ want to mess with us, Draco Malfoy."

"Likewise."

Professor Grubbly-Plank arrived then and so all the two students could do was stare at the other menacingly.

Their teacher arrived just before the Gryffindor students. Both Seamus and Harry were red in the face from anger and seemed to be avoiding each other. Apparently their conversation hadn't gone well. Hermione followed suit, panting from her sprint from the library. Surprisingly, Toushiro also showed up- seemingly out of nowhere, of course- for class.

"Renji's on his way," he told the teacher, jerking a thumb towards the castle.

"I'll allow it this time. I myself was late as there was an emergency staff meeting. ("So that's why there were no teachers in the Great Hall," said Ichigo) I heard that the new student choked on the foreign food. Quite understandable," she said. Malfoy whispered something to his Slytherin cronies and they all howled in laughter, presumably at Renji's expense.

Professor Grubbly-Plank brought out a long table laden with twigs.

"Can anyone tell me what these are called?" she said.

"Uh... twigs?" suggested Ichigo. Hermione raised her hand with at the speed of a bullet to answer the question. Malfoy did a buck-toothed imitation of her jumping up and down in eagerness, which Ichigo thought was stupid since Hermione's teeth looked nothing like that.

Pansy Parkinson let out a shriek of laughter that turned into an equally annoying shriek of surprise as the twigs on the table leapt into the air and revealed themselves to be what looked like tiny pixie-ish creatures made of wood, each with two twiglike fingers at the end of each hand and a funny flat, barklike face in which a pair of beetle-brown eyes glittered.

The girls gasped in amazement as Harry's frown deepened. It wasn't as if Hagrid had never shown them any creatures before. They'd had plenty of interesting encounters with magical animals with the half-giant as well.

"Yes, Ms. Granger, can you tell us what they're called?"

"Bowtruckles," said Hermione. "They're tree guardians, usually living in wand-trees."

Professor Grubbly-Plank awarded Gryffindor five House Points then went on to describe their task: offer the twigs some woodlice and then sketch and label the body parts. There were enough twig thingies for every three people.

Harry, Ron and Hermione were one group and Toushiro, Rukia and Ichigo made another. Harry went up to Professor Grubbly-Plank and asked her something that Ichigo couldn't hear.

"Where's Hagrid?" Harry asked her while everyone was choosing Bowtruckles.

"Never you mind," she told him harshly and walked away. Draco Malfoy approached Harry.

"Maybe the stupid oaf's got himself badly injured," he said in an undertone.

"Maybe you will if you don't shut up," said Harry out of the corner of his mouth.

"Maybe he's been messing with stuff that's too _big_ for him, if you get my drift." Malfoy then turned around, smirking. The moment his back was turned Harry adopted a calculating look on his face. Did Malfoy know something? His father was a Death-Eater after all.

"What do you suppose they were talking about?" Ichigo said to the other two as Harry joined Hermione and Ron with a serious and worried expression.

"I doubt it's anything relevant," said Toushiro emotionlessly without looking up from his page. He looked as he always did- bored out of his skull. Rukia didn't even reply, she was so concentrated on her art.

"You know, your Bowtruckles look exactly like the hollows you drew for me before," observed Ichigo. He dodged a punch to the head. "Which also look similar to the 'plus' souls you drew out."

"If I wasn't so into this, you'd be dead, Kurosaki," threatened Rukia, still not looking up.

Meanwhile, Harry was telling Ron and Hermione in a whisper what Malfoy had just said.

"We've got to ignore him Harry, we'd be playing into his hands to look worried," Hermione comforted him. "Here, hold the Bowtruckle steady, will you?"

"Yes," came Malfoy's clear drawl from the group nearest them, "Father was talking to the Minister just a couple of days ago, you know, and it sounds as though the Ministry's really determined to crack down on sub-standard teaching in this place. So even if that overgrown moron _does_ show up again, he'll probably be sent packing straightaway."

"Ouch!" Harry had gripped the Bowtruckle so hard in his anger that it had swiped his hand with its sharp claws. The Slytherins laughed even harder as the creature flew into the forest.

As Ichigo watched it soar away, he felt a presence approaching him fast. He whipped around and found himself face-to-face with Renji's tattoos.

"Miss me?" Renji hissed menacingly.

"Long time no see," Ichigo greeted him with innocent brown eyes.

"You two are so dead-" Renji started.

"Not now, Abarai. Save it for your next sparring match," said Toushiro calmly.

"Sure, if Ichigo doesn't back out this time," snorted Renji. "He was pathetic last night, surrendering after hardly a few minutes." Ichigo didn't answer, but settled for shooting his friend an angry glare.

Class ended soon after. "I thought that was an okay class," said Rukia as she walked to Herbology with Harry, Ron and Hermione.

For some reason, this comment made Harry look very cross at her.

"...Or not," Rukia finished. "Well, I'll just be, er..." Rukia ran up ahead nervously to join her shinigami companions.

"Don't you dare agree with her," said Harry sourly.

"I wasn't going to," insisted Hermione.

"Because that teacher will never be as good as Hagrid," said Harry firmly, while knowing his statement was false.

"Harry, why did Toushiro and Renji come in late?" Hermione asked suddenly, staring after Rukia's retreating back.

"Oh right, you weren't there..." Harry trailed off. "Er, well Rukia and Ichigo kind of suffocated Renji and he kind of fainted and Toushiro took him to the hospital wing."

Hermione was speechless. Noticing her stunned reaction, Harry immediately tried to defend his new friends.

"But they weren't serious about it at all or anything," said Harry immediately. Ron nodded in agreement. "Renji was fine and I'm pretty sure they were just joking around."

"They nearly killed him- and they were joking around?" repeated Hermione. "Harry, people don't go around doing things like that. Ron, you're a Prefect, how could you let them do something like this?" Before Ron could protest, Hermione continued in a lowered voice. "I was doing some research in the library earlier and I am _positive_ that the so-called school they claimed to have gone to prior to coming here doesn't exist!"

"What? Well ...I don't know, I mean Dumbledore trusts them right?" Ron said with a hint of doubt in his voice.

"Okay, so maybe they're not who they say they are," said Harry with a small frown. "That doesn't necessarily mean they're bad people." Then Harry remembered the strange detention he'd had with Ichigo the previous night. His forehead creased slightly. Since he owed him, Harry decided he'd keep his mouth shut for now. But he'd have to confront Ichigo about it later.

"I'll admit they're strange, but-"

"Strange doesn't cover it," Hermione said. "They don't know anything that a wizard should know, they appear randomly everywhere and they act as if they're so powerful and popular, when really they can't even do simple spells."

"Does that even qualify as a reason?" Harry interrupted.

"Aren't you over exaggerating a bit?" added in Ron. "You kind of sound like you're jealous that they're so popular."

Hermione turned red. "That isn't the point, Ronald!" she said angrily. "There's something strange about those four transfer students and I'm going to find out what it is!"

Without another word, Hermione stalked off ahead of them fuming. When passing the exchange students, she ignored them completely and headed to Herbology.

00000

"See you later, guys."

"Good luck, Ichigo! Don't give up! We'll be encouraging you from afar-"

"Cut the crap, Rukia. Come on Harry, let's get to the old hag's office."

Harry groaned. "I don't believe I'm going to have to miss the Quidditch tryouts for detention Friday! I completely forgot to tell-"

"Tell me?" Angelina cut in. Harry turned around to see Angelina, the captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, glowering at him. As she began unleashing her rage on him, Ichigo swung his bag over his shoulder.

"I'm sensing an oncoming rant," he commented. "I believe that's my cue to leave. I'll meet you there, Harry."

Angelina examined Ichigo and took in his strong build and imposing figure.

"Say, do you play Quidditch?" she asked him as he was about to leave.

Ichigo had a feeling he was supposed to know what Quidditch was, based on the meaningful stare that Toushiro was boring into his skull. Harry had said something about tryouts. Perhaps it was a game? Or a sport?

"Yeah, a bit," Ichigo lied. "But I'm not interested, sorry. Besides, I have detention the same days as Harry." Ichigo was used to rejecting many team captains at his high school. The karate team had especially wanted him to join, but he refused them all.

"Too bad..." Angelina frowned. "We probably could have arranged another time for you to try out for the team if you had wanted to join." From behind her, Ron sputtered on his food.

"Could you?" said Toushiro suddenly. Angelina turned to look at him. Toushiro knew they needed to gather as much information on wizards and their lifestyle as they could get, and getting Ichigo to join the team was a perfect way to do so.

"To tell you the truth," Toushiro continued. "Kurosaki here loves Quidditch, but is afraid of trying out in front of people. If you could arrange a separate time for him I'm sure he'd be pleased to join your team."

"I think that the Quidditch pitch might be free at dinner on Friday..." said Angelina thoughtfully. She didn't notice the surprised look on Ichigo's face. "You could try out before you go to detention."

Toushiro looked at an astonished Ichigo. "Don't you have somewhere to be?" Toushiro then began discussing the details with Angelina, who actually sat down so the student wouldn't have to crane his neck to look at her. She was so into the conversation that she didn't even realize that Ichigo and Harry had started sprinting out the Great Hall.

"Damn it, we're going to be late!" shouted Ichigo. "Stupid Toushiro..."

"I didn't know you played Quidditch," said Harry.

"Yeah, well... Just something I picked up for a while. I haven't played in nearly a year." Ichigo could have high-fived himself, he was so convincing.

It was silent as they ran down the staircases to Umbridge's room. Finally, Harry decided to ask the question that had been bugging him for a while.

"So, Ichigo... About last night's detention..." he started.

Ichigo sighed. "Yeah, I kinda figured you'd ask me about that," he admitted. "...Let's just say that I'm... used to taking pain. Something like that was nothing to me."

"But-"

"Let's just leave it at that for now," Ichigo said as he rapped his fist on Umbridge's door.

"Come in," the sickly sweet voice said, though she dragged it out so it sounded more like 'Come _iiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnnnn!_'

"Brace yourself," muttered Ichigo as he turned the doorknob.

"Is it really only our third day of school?" groaned Ichigo as he and Harry dragged their feet back to the common room from detention with Umbridge.

Harry grunted darkly in response, nursing his writing hand. Both sides were a brilliant shade of red.

While Harry had continued to write his lines, Umbridge had- as promised- set him some new tasks. She'd brought over some bedpans from the hospital wing and made him clean and polish them without magic (not that Ichigo knew the spell to clean them _with_ magic anyway). In fact, although Harry had not uttered a single grunt of pain during detention, Ichigo had frequently interrupted the silence with quiet swearing or groans of disgust.

Back at the common room, while Harry tried to reassure his worried friends, especially Hermione and Rukia, that he was quite alright Ichigo seemed to be doing the opposite. He complained about his punishment rather loudly, trying to catch Rukia's attention, but she continued to fuss about Harry's hand.

Ichigo finally gave up when she took Harry's hand in hers and examined it. Instead, he looked around and found that someone was missing.

"Hey, where's that other guy- Ron?" he wondered out loud.

Hermione frowned. "I'm not too sure. He said that he went to the library earlier, but when I went to check up on him he wasn't there."

Toushiro looked up from his book. "Oh right, Kurosaki. I talked to Angelina. Apparently the pitch isn't going to be free before your detention, so you can't try out at dinner."

Ichigo let out a sigh of relief.

"Instead you'll be trying out for the team after your detention," Toushiro finished.

"What? You've got to be kidding me!" Ichigo exclaimed. Rukia couldn't help but laugh at how his eyes were popping out of his skull. "You had absolutely no right!"

Toushiro put down the book and stared at him challengingly. "On the contrary, Kurosaki. I have every right to do so. If you so want to question it, we could-"

"Ugh, forget it! Why do you want me on the team so bad anyway?"

"Badly," Toushiro corrected him.

"What?"

"It's 'badly', not 'bad'. I want you to be on the team _badly_."

"Do I look like I give a-" Ichigo started.

"I thought that joining the Quidditch team would be a good experience for you to write home about," explained Toushiro.

Home? What was Toushiro talking about? Ichigo thought. He hadn't told his family that he'd gone to a school of magic. He spotted Hermione's inquisitive eyes staring at the two of them and realized what Toushiro meant.

Great. He was going to try out for a stupid sport he didn't know how to play just so Soul Society could gain extensive knowledge on Hogwarts. He seriously doubted they needed to know what Quidditch was if it ever came to a war.

"Here," Renji said. He threw a book from where he was sitting at Ichigo using more strength then he meant to. Hermione squeaked instinctively in fright for the poor book as well as its target.

"Maybe it'll help you not get trampled on Friday," he smirked. Ichigo caught the speeding book with one hand and turned it over so he could read the cover. It read 'Quidditch for Dummies'.

"I seriously doubt that," Rukia said. Ichigo was already flipping through the books.

"Huh. Thanks, Renji," he said. "Where'd you find it?"

"I was accompanying Rukia to the library. I saw the word 'dummies' and immediately thought of you," Renji laughed at his own joke.

"Renji, as a Prefect, I have to tell you that you can't go around chucking books at people," said Hermione sternly. "Really though, if the four of you keep acting up we'll lose House Points and-"

"We understand," Toushiro responded. "Don't worry, I don't think I'll be finding a need to miss my classes after today and these three won't be acting up anymore. Isn't that right?"

"Yes," Renji and Rukia said dutifully.

"Whatever you say, Toushiro."

Toushiro stared at him intensely. "I'm not even going to correct you anymore. Just go upstairs and get to bed, Kurosaki."

At first Ichigo stared right back at him with the same intensity but after a few seconds finally gave up and, though looking disgruntled, obeyed him as he brought his bag with him and climbed the stairs. Hermione looked taken aback at how easily he'd complied with Toushiro's order.

"How do you make him take orders so easily, Hitsugaya?" asked Hermione with genuine curiousity.

"I don't _make_ him do anything," Toushiro said. "He just owes me a large debt."

"But you're like half his size," Harry said immediately. He didn't mean to say it, it had just come out of his mouth.

Toushiro slammed the book shut and gave Harry a freezing stare.

"I dare you to say that again to his face," Renji whispered to Harry, who felt petrified by the captain's gaze.

Finally, Toushiro tore his eyes away from Harry's, took his book with him and walked to the stairs in silence.

"Good night!" Rukia called out to him. "And tell Ichigo I said good night to him too!"

As expected, there was no response.

"I think it's time for us all to turn in for tonight," Hermione said with a yawn.

"I agree," said Rukia as she stood up and made her way to her own staircase. "Good night, guys."

"Yeah, see you tomorrow Rukia!" Renij nodded in her direction. He too got up to go to bed.

When he was out of earshot, Hermione turned to Harry.

"Have you gotten a reply from Dumbledore yet?" she asked him. "About your dream?"

Harry shook his head. "No, I'm not even sure if McGonagall gave him the message."

"Harry, these people that You-Know... that Voldemort made an alliance with... Were they carrying swords?"

Harry squinted his eyes as he tried to remember. The details of his dream weren't very clear and he had to concentrate to recall them.

"I-I think so," Harry said slowly. "It's hard to say. I don't remember their faces at all, just their clothes mostly. Why do you need to know?"

"Because I have a suspicion," Hermione said simply.

"Well I'd like to know."

"I think that Voldemort might have made an alliance with the shinigami."

The term struck a bell in Harry's mind. He tried to remember where he'd heard it before.

"Shinigami? Like in the article you read to us on the train?" he asked. Hermione nodded. "If that's true..." Harry shuddered at the thought. Wizards knew practically nothing about the shinigami. If they were to team up with Voldemort the consequences would be disastrous.

"Hermione, I think we have something new to research in the library."

The next day passed without incident. True to their word, the transfer students behaved themselves, only cracking a small joke once in a while. Toushiro attended classes and performed like a model student. Together, he and Hermione earned thirty-five points for Gryffindor in only one day.

Ichigo and Harry went for another detention and this time Ichigo had to help Professor Umbridge sort her clothes (which all seemed to be pink and lacy). Somehow he kept himself from throwing up for the whole two hours. Ron disappeared again mysteriously during their detention and Harry caught him sneaking back in the room in the middle of the night with his broomstick.

But nothing actually _happened_ that day.

The day after that, however, a few incidents started to occur.

The first was in the morning at the breakfast table. Rukia was actually getting used to the foreign food though Renji and Ichigo still spent most of their meal times staring at the strange dishes.

Hermione paid a barn owl three knuts and received her Daily Prophet, ignoring Harry who was shooting dark looks at said newspaper. Hermione's eyes widened as she read one of the articles.

"Harry, look at this!" she said almost excitedly.

"I don't want to see what the Daily Prophet's written, thanks-"

"No, it's not that. Ever since that article came out a few days ago about shinigami, the Ministry has received dozens of reported sightings of shinigami in Britain!"

"What? Are you sure?" Harry leaned over to read the paper and even Ron diverted his attention from the food to pay attention.

"It says here that that new Ministry man who wrote that article I told you about has written a book to 'share his knowledge with the public'. It'll come out sometime next week. Hundreds of wizards and witches are already pre-ordering it!"

"We'd better pre-order one too," Harry said. "It'll make our research a lot easier."

"Sorry to eavesdrop, but what kind of research?" questioned Renji.

"We're sort of interested in shinigami," Harry said. "We're trying to find out as much as possible on them."

"This new book that's coming out is sure to help us," Hermione added.

"Er, who did you say wrote this book?" Ichigo said, trying to disguise his panic.

"Oh, it's that guy that you four said you met before," Ron said. "Remember? On the train? What was his name again, Hermione?"

"Aizen Sousuke." Rukia and Ichigo exchanged looks, but both kept their cool unlike the last time they'd heard his name.

"Right. Where did you say he was working again?" Rukia asked.

"He's a new employee at the Ministry of Magic."

Toushiro stood up suddenly. The others stared at him. "Excuse me. I'm going to step outside for a bit."

And, resisting the urge to destroy the castle in his frustration, Toushiro nearly ran to the Headmaster's office.

He needed a way to get to the Ministry of Magic and settle things once and for all.

* * *

**So... Pairing stuff is being kept at an extremely low level. I think this story focuses more on the bleach characters than the harry potter ones, so i'll probably focus on their romance more too. It'll gradually build up.**

**I know it should be the opposite, but for some reason whenever I take a long time updating a chapter, the worse it turns out. I guess that's because that's when I force myself to write instead of letting it write itself and stuff and it turns out worse.**

**I know, I say that every chapter sucks! But to be honest, the chapters I hate the most are the last one, this one and the first one. So I'm actually serious this time.**

**I totally forget what else I was going to say... So until next time! **

**(click the review button. It's calling out to you! You know you want to!)**


	9. High in the Sky

**Ok, first of all- Please stop voting haha! Toushiro is _not_ getting a pairing. I'm not even going to count the reviews voting for his girlfriend anymore...**

**I literally got grounded five minutes ago so i'm uploading this chapter without editing! pardon any mistakes or continuity errors, i'll fix them soon.**

**Thank you, CressidaRene, for the encouragement! It really made my day :) I have no plans to give up on this story, even if I encounter writer's block, because it's always nagging me at the back of my mind lol.**

**Since this chapter is not 'touched-up' it may not be the same quality as usual (and i usually add funny stuff in when i edit) but since this chapter took so long, I'll try to make up for it by writing the next one quickly. I find it easier to write during the school year, so updates might be slightly sooner. **

**And now I will shut up!**

* * *

There were a few minutes of silence after Toushiro had left the table. The atmosphere was awkward as they waited for someone to say something. Nobody did, so they all started eating again. Finally, just when Harry was starting to feel he could bear it no longer, Rukia broke the tension.

"What are you staring at?" she growled at Renji, who had indeed been scrutinizing her face just moments earlier.

"Huh?" Renji was caught off-guard. "Oh, I was just thinking... You have really small eyebrows, Rukia," Renji remarked randomly. Everyone present stared at him.

"At least I _have_ eyebrows, Renji," Rukia retorted.

"Oooh, _burn_..."

"You can shut the hell up, Ichigo."

The Gryffindors relaxed. Things were back to normal.

Meanwhile, Toushiro was storming up the hallway. No one dared meet his gaze, though at the moment he couldn't care less. Just hearing that bastard's name made him see red with fury. And now he was revealing Soul Society to the Ministry? The traitorous piece of scum was going to die in his hands.

Toushiro stood in front of the gargoyle blocking the stairs to the Headmaster's office and practically spat out the password, however his head was starting to clear and he began to think rationally. When Toushiro finally found himself in front of the Headmaster's door, thoughts of revenge and facing off with Aizen at the Ministry had begun to seem a little absurd.

_What was I thinking? I can't face him by myself, and especially not when he has the Ministry on his side. What was I going to do, walk in there and hope that he got a million times weaker than before? No... That's probably what he wants. He's been giving us hints to his location just to taunt us. If we were to attack him, the Ministry would jump to conclusions and assume we are declaring war on them._

His hand was still raised in mid-air, ready to knock on the door. He had no doubt that if he asked the Headmaster, he would let him leave Hogwarts to go to the Ministry, but... Toushiro shook himself mentally. He was on a mission. There was no time for personal vendettas at the moment.

His hovering fist was trembling now, both with frustration and restraint. Finally, he let his hand fall to his side and gazed impassively at the door in front of him for a moment before turning around and heading back down the staircase. He would have to send another report to Soul Society; it was all he could do for now.

Toushiro despised feeling so helpless. He hated feeling human.

00000

"Do you realize how much homework we have?" complained Ron, looking very tired indeed. "I'll bet you anything McGonagall's going to give us even more today." His feet dragged along reluctantly towards Transfiguration. They still had plenty of time before classes started.

"Why haven't you worked on it while Ichigo and I had our detentions?" Harry asked him.

"Yeah, you're always gone when they have detention," Hermione frowned thoughtfully. "Have you been going somewhere every night?"

"Uh..." Ron's ears suddenly started to turn red. "Well, I was just, er, stepping out for a bit of fresh air," Ron lied. His two friends stared at him skeptically until he caved in. "Okay fine," he admitted. "I've been sneaking out at night to practice Quidditch so I can try out for Keeper. Happy? Go ahead and laugh."

Harry blinked, not expecting this. He quickly overcame his shock, however, and his face broke into a smile. "That's brilliant! Are you any good at Quidditch?"

Ron, not anticipating Harry's reaction, looked surprised, then pleased. "I play sometimes with my brothers," Ron said, his ears still a bright scarlet. "I just thought that since I just got a new broom for becoming a Prefect and all, I might give it a go."

"Good for you, Ron," Hermione said. "I hope you do well today."

"Thanks," Ron said with a sheepish smile that slipped off his face as he remembered something. "But actually, I'm worried about Ichigo. He looks like he could be a good Quidditch player."

"He does look like he'd be good at Quidditch, doesn't he?" agreed Hermione. "From what I've heard, most people are betting that he'll get the position..." She broke off after seeing the expression on Ron's face. Hermione and Harry had to spend the next ten minutes trying to cheer Ron up again.

Meanwhile, Ichigo was learning what Quidditch was.

"Broomsticks? Are you serious?" Ichigo said in disbelief, just out of the hearing range of Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

Rukia nodded, poring over a book on said sport she had found in the library. Renji was also reading in fascination over her shoulder as the three of them walked down the hall.

"This sport sounds fun," he commented absentmindedly. "Look, these 'Beaters' have the job of whacking a heavy ball towards people on the other team. Too bad that position isn't open..."

"What's the point of having Chasers and Keepers? I mean, it sounds like whoever catches the Snitch wins..." muttered Rukia to herself with her eyebrows pinched together. "This is the most complicated game I've ever heard of."

"Wait, what? What the hell's a Snitch?"

"Don't worry, Ichigo," Rukia told him. "When you go up, just make sure nothing gets into the hoops you're guarding."

"By the time I get out of detention, it'll be pitch-black outside and it'll be my first time riding a broomstick," Ichigo grumbled. He suddenly winced. "Are they, like, ordinary brooms?"

"Besides the fact that they can fly? Yes, they are," answered Rukia. "Ugh, you're smothering me, Renji. Here, you can have it." She pushed Renji's face away from her own and threw him the book. She turned back to Ichigo. "Why do you need to know?"

Ichigo grimaced. "So basically I'm going to be sitting on a stick that will be wedged between my thighs, right?"

Rukia looked thoughtful. "I think so. None of the players looked very uncomfortable in the book, though, so I wouldn't worry."

"Yeah, but were any of them guys?"

"Chickening out, Ichigo?" Renji grinned.

"You wish," Ichigo scowled back. "I hate joining team sports, that's all. Maybe if I provoked Umbridge a bit more, she'll make me stay back for a couple more hours and then I won't be able to try out…"

"Yeah, or she might give you another week's worth of detention," Rukia said.

"Well, maybe if I asked for her to let us leave detention early, she would do the opposite to try to infuriate us-"

"What if she's in a good mood and decides to let you leave early?" Renji cut in.

Ichigo opened his mouth to respond when a third-year Hufflepuff girl with a high ponytail walked up to the three of them.

"E-excuse me, but I-I have to, um, tell Mr. Kurosaki that his detention with Professor Umbridge is c-cancelled for tonight because she has a meeting," the girl said, looking slightly intimidated by the foreign exchange students. "You'll have a make-up detention another time," she added.

"Thank you for delivering the message," Rukia told her with a smile. The girl blushed and nodded furiously.

"Aren't you supposed to tell Harry too? He's up ahead…" Renji trailed off seeing the terrified look on the girl's face. She looked about ready to faint.

"Oh no, it's alright, he's in our class. We'll tell him, ok?" Rukia said quickly. The girl blushed again and ran down the hallway, staring at the ground.

"That's right, we still don't know why Harry is so famous," Renji said with a frown. "We'll have to ask him later."

"Don't you think that he'll think it's a bit suspicious that we're the only ones that don't know his story? We'll have to find out another way."

"He knows that we don't know already," Renji argued. "I mean, everyone else is either worshipping the ground he walks on or running away the moment they see him or hear his name! Why don't you just ask the captain?"

"Me?" Rukia said. "Why me?"

"He likes you better."

"Well, I'd say in comparison with the two of you, anyone would," Rukia smirked. Then she realized they were one head short. She turned around to see Ichigo walking behind them with a scowl on his face. "Say Ichigo, you're kind of quiet back there."

"Now that Umbridge went and cancelled the detention, I have to try out with everyone else tonight!" he complained. "I don't even have an excuse anymore to miss it!"

"Weren't you whining a second ago that you would have to try out in pitch black?" Renji said.

"I'm sure you won't mess up _too_ horribly," Rukia told him, patting his shoulder. "Just try not to kill anyone." Up ahead, she spotted the back of Harry's head. "Oh right, we have to tell Harry that detention's been cancelled!"

Rukia ran up to the group of three wizards and Ichigo watched as she tapped Harry's shoulder and entered the classroom with them. Ichigo turned to Renji, about to say something, when he noticed Renji's expression.

"Hey, are you alright?" Ichigo waved his hand in front of the shinigami student to get his attention.

"Huh? Oh- yeah, let's go in," Renji said as he tore his gaze from where Ron, Hermione, Harry, and Rukia had just been a moment ago.

Ichigo looked at him strangely one last time as they went in. As they passed through the doorframe, the bell rang for classes to begin.

"Huh, looks like Toushiro didn't make-"

"What are you talking about, Kurosaki?" said a voice behind them. Renji twitched in surprise, but managed to maintain his composure.

"You know, I'm actually getting used to you popping up in random places now," Ichigo said dryly. They took their seats and sat in silence for the rest of the period.

The next class was History of Magic, where Ichigo studied the Quidditch book in secret, Renji tried to distract him by practicing a few basic spells on the book, and Neville mispronounced Toushiro's surname, calling him 'Hits-a-guy'.

By the end of class, Renji had a swollen eye where he had gotten punched by Ichigo, Ichigo was gingerly carrying his book- which was now burnt to a crisp- and Neville was sent to the hospital wing for unknown reasons. Madame Pomfrey later diagnosed him with frostbite.

When the classes for the day had ended, the Gryffindors headed to dinner with the other houses. Ron was looking very fidgety and didn't eat anything. Finally, ten minutes into dinner he got up and went to the common room.

"What's with him?" Ichigo asked Harry.

Harry glanced up at him. "He's really nervous about trying out for the team tonight."

"You don't say..."

"Oh yeah- Rukia told you, right? That detention's been cancelled for tonight? Apparently Umbridge has some sort of meeting tonight that she can't miss," Renji remembered.

"Yeah, Rukia mentioned it to me," Harry nodded. He looked up at the staff table. Hagrid still wasn't there, but now Umbridge's seat was empty too.

"It looks like she's already left for the Ministry," Hermione commented, following Harry's eyes.

"Your detention's been cancelled, Kurosaki?" repeated Toushiro with a raised eyebrow. Ichigo nodded glumly in response. "I suggest that you go right now to practice with one of the school brooms before the tryouts. You wouldn't want to make a fool of yourself."

"No I wouldn't," Ichigo said through gritted teeth. "I'll see you at tryouts, I suppose..._Hits-a-guy_."

"I have a nickname now? If you're trying to get on my nerves, I suggest you try something else." Toushiro picked up a copy of the _Evening Prophet_ and looked through the articles.

"The nickname is strangely not working for him," Renji frowned, observing Toushiro's calm demeanor. "Maybe something more along the lines of 'Calmly-kills-a-guy-when-he's-not-looking', or maybe-"

"I'm leaving before Toushiro actually does kill someone," Ichigo interjected.

"Hold on, Ichigo," Rukia said. "I'm coming with you. I want to see this." She grinned evilly.

"Count me in too. You coming, Toushiro?" Renji said, jumping up from the table and abandoning his half-eaten meat pie.

"If I can make it," Toushiro told him. He didn't look up, but continued to leaf through his paper.

"See you guys later!" Renji waved to the remaining Gryffindors and the three of them left the Great Hall.

Once outside the Great Hall, Ichigo paused.

"What is it?" Rukia asked him. "Aren't you going outside?"

"I just had an idea," he said slowly. Instead of heading outside, he suddenly started walking up the stairs.

"Hey, where are you going?" Renji called out to him. When Ichigo didn't answer, he shrugged his shoulders and followed after him. Rukia was right behind him, curious as to what Ichigo was planning. The shinigami soon found themselves in the deserted common room.

Ichigo ran up the stairs to the boy's dormitories and Rukia and Renji were right behind him. The dormitories were empty as well.

"Huh, I guess Ron left to practice," Renji said. He then looked at Rukia in realization. "Are you even allowed to be up here?"

"I've shared a room with Ichigo before," she scoffed. "I'm sure it's fine."

"Yeah, well..."

"Here it is!" Ichigo exclaimed, pulling out his substitute shinigami badge. He pressed it against his chest and his body fell to the ground while his shinigami body stood upright, stretching his arms out.

"What are you doing?" Rukia hissed. "If someone sees you-"

"You shouldn't be in here either," Ichigo retorted. "Listen, can you leave or turn around for a minute, I have to change."

Rukia glared at him for a moment, but her curiosity got the better of her and she went down to the common room. Ichigo took off his shinigami robes and put on his school uniform. He looked exactly like the body lying on the floor.

"What are you planning?" Renji finally asked.

"You'll see," Ichigo answered vaguely. Renji rolled his eyes but didn't say anything else. He crossed his arms, leaned against the wall and watched as Ichigo picked up Zangetsu and hid it beneath a blanket under the bed. He then picked up the shinigami robes and stuffed it in his trunk.

Ichigo stared at the body lying at the ground thoughtfully, and then he hefted it over his shoulder and walked back down the stairs. "Hey Rukia, is there anyone in there?" he called out to her before he entered the common room.

"No, it's just me."

Ichigo stepped in carrying his body with Renji following suite. "Let's go," he said. It looked for all the world like there were two identical Ichigos.

"I hate to break it to you, but carrying around a dead version of yourself isn't the best way to avoid attracting attention," Rukia said sarcastically, seeing him.

"Relax, no one will see me hiding it," Ichigo told her. As the portrait door swung open, Ichigo seemed to have disappeared into thin air, though the shinigami knew he was using shunpo. Renji and Rukia climbed out together and waited for him to appear again.

Ichigo came back less than a minute later, emerging from the washroom.

"You hid it there?" Rukia said in disgust. Ichigo shrugged.

"Let's go," he said. He started heading back down the staircase.

"Wait, where's your sword?" Rukia said. "You don't have it with you? What if there's an emergency?"

"You guys will be there too," Ichigo told her. "Relax, I know what I'm doing."

They went downstairs to the Entrance Hall and walked out the doors. The sun was still in the sky, but the air was feeling slightly colder. The three of them stopped by an old shack on the way to the Quidditch pitch to pick up a broom for Ichigo.

The school brooms were all worn out; the paint on the handles was peeling off, the twigs were bent in random places, and some of them looked like they were missing several pieces.

"These things fly?" Renji said sceptically. "I don't know if I would trust these. They look like ordinary brooms to me."

The three of them looked over the school brooms. None of them were in very good condition, but they finally chose one for Ichigo that didn't look too shabby.

"Ok, so how are you going to learn how to fly a broom in about half an hour?" Rukia said. Ichigo smiled and, with the broomstick in his hand, stepped onto the air as if it were solid ground.

"Like this," he answered.

"You're going to cheat?" Renji said. He looked scandalized for a moment, then he frowned. "Huh. Why didn't I think of that?"

"So _that's_ why you're in your spirit form," Rukia realized. "Now you don't even need a broomstick to try out."

"Yeah, but then everyone would be asking me how I can stand on thin air," Ichigo said, mounting on the broomstick above their heads. "I'm just in this form so I won't lose my balance and fall off."

He tried flying the broom and steering it, but the broom was rather jerky and slow.

"Let's go to the Quidditch pitch," Rukia suggested. Ichigo came back down and the three of them walked down to the pitch, where they saw Ron and a couple other students practicing before the tryouts. Ron was still looking incredibly nervous, but was flying decently, Ichigo noticed.

"We'll sit in the stands," Rukia said, and Ichigo watched as she and Renji walked off together. He finally looked away and mounted the broomstick once more. As he kicked off the ground, the evening air whipped his face harshly and he rose into the air.

Ron didn't even look up to greet him. He was doing laps around the field. Ichigo decided that would be a good thing to start with and forced his broom forward. His old school broom didn't turn very well and slowed down by itself once in a while. Whenever that happened, he gathered some Reishi in the atmosphere under his feet and gave himself a little push. He tried the same thing when making turns and the control was much more efficient.

More and more Gryffindors started to come to the tryouts. Some were holding broomsticks and others merely sat in the stands to watch. Ichigo came back down to the ground when he saw the Gryffindor team entering the pitch. He stood with the other hopeful candidates. He was surprised to see many first and second year students trying out.

Angelina stood in front of them and gave them instructions. She told them to fly to the goal hoops and back five times. She then divided the contestants by year so she could judge them at the same time.

The first years, all using old school brooms like Ichigo's, could hardly get a foot off the ground before falling off or losing control and they were all sent back.

Many of the second years were nearly as bad, but two managed to get in the air and fly down to the goal post. One fell off his broom trying to turn it around and another crashed into the goal post. The remaining second year, looking very nervous at having everyone stare at her, managed to go to and from the goal post twice before fainting.

Three third years managed to make it five times, as did two in fourth year. Ichigo and Ron were the only ones in fifth year who were trying out, and both made it, Ichigo cheating a little to turn the rickety old broom around quickly every time.

Three sixth years tried out, and although one was rather slow, they all made it. There were two seventh years who also both tried out and made it.

As the sun started to set, Angelina made the remaining Gryffindors go up one at a time to guard the hoops while she, Alicia Spinnet, and Katie Bell took turns taking shots at them. They were also expected to dodge the occasional bludger from Fred and George.

Not many Gryffindors managed to expertly block five shots in a row while also dodging bludgers. Vicky Frobisher in fourth year was the only one who had managed to do so before it was Ron's turn.

Ron's control over the broom was a bit shaky, but he still managed to block all five shots and dodge the bludgers at the same time. Ichigo couldn't help but think that some of his saves looked like sheer luck.

Then it was Ichigo's turn. There were some whispered murmurs in the stadium about the exchange student who was originally from Slytherin that was now trying out for the Gryffindor Quidditch team. He guessed that the only ones that weren't gossiping about him were probably Rukia, Renji, and Hermione. In the distance, Ichigo heard Rukia yelling at him to not kill himself and he grinned confidently at Katie Bell, who was advancing on him with the Quaffle.

The Weasley twins, who didn't seem to like Ichigo very much, whacked the bludgers harder than ever with pinpoint precision, and though they weren't likely to hurt him in his shinigami form, he dodged them easily. Katie threw the Quaffle, aiming for the left post, but Ichigo could see it as if it were in slow motion. He moved his foot to give himself a gentle push forward, and shot forward with a speed the broom wouldn't normally have been capable of. He caught the Quaffle and threw it back to Katie.

He blocked the next three shots similarly, however he hadn't realized that Harry, only a few meters away and also on his broomstick, had been so nearby. He saw Harry's eyes following his foot as he used it to push himself forward once more and wondered for a split second if Harry realized what he'd been doing.

Ichigo shook his head. There was no way Harry would have been able to guess that Ichigo was cheating. He refocused himself on Alicia Spinnet, who was now attempting to score on him. Angelina watched expectantly. In her opinion, Ichigo was a great Keeper, maybe even better than Wood was. The fact that he could make a broom like _that_ move with such speed was inconceivable.

The eyes of everyone in the crowd followed the Quaffle as it left Alicia's hands. Ichigo flew to the right, already knowing which direction it was heading. He reached the goal post before the ball did, but as he watched it come closer he felt a familiar tugging at the edge of his consciousness.

"_Miss me?_"

Ichigo froze. That voice... was it his imagination?

"_You know, whatever it was that Aizen did to mess up your head... that control he had over us... it's weakening,_" Ichigo's inner hollow continued as casually as it could without sounding sadistic. _"I'm sure you've noticed already. The frequent flashbacks, for example."_

A small part of Ichigo's mind was telling him to stay focused on what was happening in front of him, but he was now just staring into space, listening intently.

"_But do you know what else that means?" _There was a maniacal laughter filling his head now. The hollow's voice suddenly dropped down to a hush. _"The less control that bastard has on you... the less control you _both_ have over me!"_

It was an odd experience to describe. Everything seemed to be moving at a normal pace in the outside world, but when Ichigo's hollow had finished his threats, the Quaffle was still heading towards him at full speed. By the time he realized what was happening, the Quaffle whizzed past his head, ruffling his hair, and soared through the hoop.

Alicia looked shocked that she had gotten one past him, and on the ground Ron looked almost relieved. The tryouts resumed and Ichigo landed his broom safely, his face blank. He suddenly felt unsafe in his shinigami body- vulnerable. He wanted to go back into the castle and get back into his normal body, but with most of the crowd pointing and staring at him, he decided it wouldn't be a good idea to draw any more attention.

He stood on the pitch with Ron, who was staring down a sixth year doing extremely well, as he waited for everyone to finish. When everyone had gone up, the Quidditch team gathered to discuss who would be best suited to take the Keeper position.

The Gryffindor team huddled together, examining the clipboard in Angelina's hand. Hushed murmurings could be heard, but nothing discernible. Meanwhile, most of the line-up of prospective Keepers were slowly edging closer and closer towards the team circle, trying to catch the gist of what they were saying. The small crowd in the stands was also abuzz, discussing who they thought was the best and the worst and whether Gryffindor could win the Quidditch Cup.

The team seemed to be arguing amongst themselves. Ron was looking around the pitch for some kind of distraction. He glanced at Ichigo, who had done extremely well if it hadn't been for the fifth shot. The student in question was staring at the ground, apparently deep in thought.

Angelina cleared her throat and immediately everyone's eyes were on her.

"It was a very difficult decision, but the Gryffindor team has decided who will be this year's Keeper," she announced. "This person demonstrated excellent speed on the broomstick and performed well during the tryouts. We also agreed that he is going to be able to cooperate well with the team that we have already assembled. Gryffindor's new Keeper is... Ron Weasley!"

00000

The Weasley twins had thrown a party that night in the Gryffindor common room. Most people were holding a Butterbeer in their hands and having fun. Hermione was already sleeping ten minutes into the celebrations and the twins were using all the commotion as an excuse to test out their Skiving Snackboxes. Meanwhile, Renji was hunting the room for something stronger to drink while Rukia was hunting the room for Ichigo and Toushiro.

Toushiro wasn't in the common room, though it was already past curfew. He was up in the Owlery, his chain bracelet off for the first time since they'd arrived in England; it was sitting on a shelf next to him. He watched as various faces and profiles appeared on the screen of his cell phone as he spoke to a member of the Shinigami Research and Development Institute through speakerphone.

"This one sticks out too much… This man doesn't have enough training… This one is excessively violent… This one is not competent enough…" he muttered.

"Would you like me to send you some more files?" suggested the shinigami who was taking the night shift at the lab.

Toushiro was about to answer when the voice of the 12th division captain interrupted him on the other side of the phone.

"What is taking so long, Hiyosu?" Toushiro heard Mayuri Kurotsuchi demand.

"Captain Hitsugaya is choosing a shinigami to go undercover at the Ministry of Magic, sir," Hiyosu replied.

"Ah, Captain Hitsugaya!" Even without seeing his face, the 10th division captain could imagine his large sadistic smile. "I had nearly forgotten that you were in the Human world!" It was a lie, and they both knew it. _Probably trying to get on my nerves..._

"Oh? But I've already sent in quite a few reports," Toushiro said coolly.

"Yes, I suppose I was so excited about the information that they contained, I didn't look twice at the sender," Mayuri said. "Anyways, Hiyosu was in the middle of conducting an experiment. You don't need to bother yourself with personally choosing the undercover agent, so why don't you let us take care of it?"

"Forgive me, Captain Kurotsuchi, but _I_ am the one in charge of our association with the wizarding world. It is my responsibility alone."

"Hmph! As you wish, Captain. But may I ask that you finish up quickly?"

"Of course."

"Good. Oh, and keep those reports coming. I must say, wizards are quite fascinating." Even through the phone, his tone still had a malicious ring in it. "I'll have to have a few of them in my possession when all the initial investigation is finished with. I almost feel like coming over there myself to experiment on them! Do try to send over a few specimens as soon as you can, Captain Hitsugaya. I don't know if I can contain my excitement any longer!"

Toushiro could hear his insane laughter getting quieter and quieter as the scientist walked away from the conversation. Once Mayuri left, Toushiro scrolled through some more profiles. Despite Mayuri's complaints, he went no faster than usual. He finally settled with a shinigami who had joined the Gotei 13 after Aizen's betrayal so it was impossible for him to be recognized by the traitor. Selecting this file and sending it back to Soul Society, Toushiro closed his phone.

"I hope he doesn't die," he sighed to no one in particular. His voice hardened. "Although if this shinigami screws up the mission, I might just kill him myself." Most of the owls had gone out hunting during the night, but the few remaining in the Owlery ruffled their feathers instinctively at the sound of the young captain's voice. Despite the fact that they were usually active at night, they hadn't made a single noise since he had entered the room.

Toushiro pretended not to notice and he put the chain bracelet back on, enabling him to once again speak in English.

"I hate this thing," he voiced out loud, glaring at the jewellery on his wrist. "The mission, too. I'm losing what little respect I had in the first place while I'm here. The food is disgusting, my subordinates get on my nerves, and this gigai is almost intolerable." He paused.

"...And yet... Even if they were to ask me to quit this assignment, I know I would say no." He fingered the silver chain absentmindedly and sighed again. "Great. Now I'm talking to myself. This place is messing with my mind."

He took in one last breath of the cool night air, then turned around and descended from the Owlery.

00000

Ichigo groaned, rubbing his pounding head with a clenched fist and swearing under his breath. The air outside did nothing to soothe his pain, though he certainly had a nice view. He was sitting on the cone-shaped roof of the Astronomy tower, the highest tower at the castle. It was a good place to be when you were deep in thought. He was trying to assemble the pieces of his head together. The facts were all mixed up and he needed to set his mind straight.

So based on what he'd heard his hollow say earlier, Aizen's hold on him was weakening, so at least he wasn't going to brainwash him again when he least expected it. That was definitely a plus, but on the other hand it meant that he would have no control over his inner hollow. Either way, he would lose.

"What the hell am I supposed to do...?" he muttered to himself.

"So this is where you've been hiding, huh?"

Ichigo jumped up in surprise, which probably wasn't very clever considering his location, and turned around. The light of the moon was reflected in two large violet eyes.

"Is this the 'private place' you told me about earlier in Defence Against the Dark Arts?" Rukia asked him.

"Maybe," Ichigo shrugged. He lay against the roof, hands behind his head and Rukia sat down next to him with her arms wrapped around her legs. "How'd you find me?"

"Oh, please. I'm so used to your spirit energy I could track you down if you travelled to the other side of the world. It's practically second nature now," Rukia scoffed.

There was a moment of silence where Rukia cleared her throat embarrassingly and then changed the subject. "So what, are you sulking up here because you didn't get to be Keeper?"

Ichigo didn't answer.

"You know, Angelina was telling me that if it were up to her, she would have chosen you as the Keeper, even though you'd missed that one shot. Geoffrey Hooper and Vicky Frobisher were apparently really good as well, but Geoffrey complains a lot and Vicky has a bunch of other clubs that would get in the way of practice. Angelina would have picked you over any of them though; it was just that she didn't think an ex-Slytherin would get along well with the rest of-"

Ichigo sighed. "Rukia, did you come here to harass me or are you going to let me enjoy my privacy?"

"Sorry," Rukia said. "I'll shut up. But I'm not leaving either, it's really nice up here."

"I figured as much."

The two of them sat in comfortable silence, staring, transfixed, at the star-filled skies above them. It was a full moon and there wasn't a single cloud in sight.

"I can see why you escaped to come up here," Rukia said finally. "The stars are beautiful."

Ichigo frowned. "The stars? They're okay, I guess."

"Well what have you been staring at this whole time?"

"The moon."

Rukia blinked. "The moon?" she echoed. "The stars are a lot prettier. You don't get stars like this where you live, you know. As for the moon, you can see it anywhere."

"Exactly," Ichigo told her. "The moon's shining brightly wherever you are, right? That must mean it's stronger than the stars!"

"Did you learn astronomy from the 11th division or something? You think it's prettier because it's _stronger_?"

"Sure, if all those stars are together, it looks cool. But the moon's still brighter," Ichigo continued.

"Your logic still makes no sense to me." Rukia paused. "If anything, the stars would be stronger, wouldn't they? They make their own light while the moon reflects the light of the sun. Without the sun, the moon would be nothing," Rukia challenged. _Why am I even arguing about something so pointless,_ she wondered to herself. _I've gone completely nuts._

"The moon still _looks_ brighter," Ichigo argued. He didn't even know where he was going with this ridiculous banter. "And stars are boring to look at. At least the moon changes every night."

"..."

"..."

"You are _so_ weird, Ichigo."

"I think I get like that when I'm tired. You should have heard what I was talking about with Toushiro the other night." As if to prove his point, he yawned loudly and stretched his arms out. "Well, let's get off the roof before we get in trouble."

The two of them stood up slowly, their joints popping.

"So why'd you come up here in the first place?" Rukia asked him.

Ichigo shrugged. "Just... enjoying the view, I guess."

Rukia smacked him on the head.

"What the hell are you doing?" Ichigo said angrily. "What if I'd lost my balance and fell, you idiot!"

"If you don't want me to know, you can just say so!" Rukia said. "You don't have to make some kind of stupid excuse!"

"Why you little..."

They argued for a few more minutes until they really _were_ tired. The two of them descended from the Astronomy tower, yawning widely, and headed back to the Gryffindor common room.

00000

By Ministry standards, the meeting was quite small, especially in comparison to the importance it held for the wizarding community. Though there were few people attending, they were all people with high positions within the Ministry.

The Minister for Magic himself was seated at one end of the table, only accompanied by his Senior Undersecretary and Junior Assistant Dolores Umbridge and Percy Weasley, respectively. Along the other sides of the table sat the head of the Spirit Division of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical creatures, the head of the Auror office, the head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation, and an Unspeakable from the Department of Mysteries.

The room was silent as everyone waited for the speaker to arrive. At last, he entered the room carrying several files under his arm. The man adjusted his glasses and greeted everyone present politely before starting.

"Before we begin this meeting, I have something to ask all of you," the man said. Making sure he had everyone's attention, he continued. "Do all of you trust me?"

Most of the attendees glanced at the Minister to see how he would respond. Cornelius Fudge hesitated, then nodded.

"I trust everything you have to say, Sousuke," Fudge said. Umbridge and Percy nodded as well, following his lead. This prompted everyone else in the room to also nod their heads in agreement.

"Very well," Aizen said calmly, though on the inside he felt like laughing. This was going to be much, much easier than he'd originally anticipated. "Then together, my good friends, let us change history."

* * *

**Ok, so sleep-deprived Ichigo ranting again, a huge disappointment with Toushiro cuz he's not going to the ministry, and quidditch! The quidditch scene was originally soo long (it still is longer than i would have liked) but I cut out like two pages because it was entirely useless.**

**I'm gonna try to keep this shorter than usual: Review whether or not you have an account, and I'm sorry this update took so long! Thanks again so much for the reviews! **

**...and now I hear my mother coming up the stairs (which could mean trouble for me!), so I am going to update right now!**


	10. What a Son of a Witch

**So, this is awkward.. :)**

**Short incomplete chapter, read the announcement at the bottom!  
**

* * *

"Human and shinigami eyes alike are strictly forbidden to gaze upon the contents of _the book_."

This was the very first instruction given to Sosuke Aizen and his squad after the Head Commander had given them the mission of ensuring safety of the book during its transportation to the new hiding place. Little was known about the book, as it was guarded twenty four hours a day and was virtually impossible to steal.

In all the recorded history of Soul Society, however, there had never been a reason for the guards to even lift a finger. Though undoubtedly many had taken up the challenge of attempting to steal the mysterious book, the obstacles said to have been placed around it protected it so well that everyone had died before the guards had had to do anything.

The book was also moved every now and then, and each time a different squad would be in charge of watching over it during its transportation. Not even the squad in charge, though, knew where the new hiding place was. They were to simply guard it until they reached the drop-off point.

This first mission of his was engraved into Aizen's memory. In decades to come, he would spend countless days digging up as much as he could on the subject of the book_. _By the time he had betrayed Soul Society, he had gathered a small list of what he knew about it. It wasn't much, but it was enough.

Sure enough, a few months later he led his espada- Ichigo included- into Soul Society and through careful planning became the first being ever known to have been able to steal the book...

Three months after that incident found Aizen attending an exclusive meeting at the Ministry of Magic.

"Together, my good friends, let us change history."

Needless to say, this comment invited several raised eyebrows from the other attendees of the meeting. The Minister himself, however, listened intently.

Aizen took a battered red leather book from the insides of his cloak and placed it delicately on the table. Everyone remained silent, expecting him to elaborate. Sure enough, he continued immediately afterwards.

"As some of you may know, I once had a small run-in with a shinigami before," Aizen said carefully. "Through weeks of interrogation, I finally figured out what he was. I also managed to take this-" Aizen picked up the book once more and held it high enough for everyone to see. "-book from him. I suspect _they_ sent him to put it in a vault in Gringott's, the last place anyone would look for it..."

"But what _is_ it?" demanded Rufus Scrimgeour, head of the Auror office, rather impatiently. He disliked Aizen, who had climbed to the top ranks of the Ministry in such short time and was obviously favoured upon by the Minister himself. In his opinion, the man was a useless incompetent who relied on apple-polishing tactics rather than actual skill.

"My apologies, Mr. Scrimgeour," Aizen said calmly, his face not changing in the slightest. "Yes, I suppose it would be a better idea to actually see it for yourself rather than simply listen to my explanation." He leaned forwards and politely handed the book to Scrimgeour. Though he couldn't shake off the suspicious feeling he had towards this mysterious book, Scrimgeour nevertheless accepted it from him out of mere curiosity.

"How odd," Scrimgeour commented as he held the book in his hands.

"What is it, Rufus?" asked Cornelius Fudge.

"It's... unlike anything I've ever felt before," Scrimgeour frowned. "The book feels somewhat... heavy, but in terms of weight, it is perfectly normal. It's hard to explain."

"My theory is that that is the effect of the old magic that book carries," Aizen explained. "It has some of the most powerful magic I have ever seen before."

Scrimgeour took a minute to read the first page and then flipped through the rest of them, scanning briefly what was written inside. A few seconds later he closed it shut again, looking thoughtful.

"Interesting read, Aizen," he said at last.

"Well?" asked Dolores. "What was it?"

"The first twenty pages or so explain the rules and guidelines of the book," Aizen answered her. "The rest of the book is divided into two halves. According to page 11..." Aizen took the book back and turned to said page. "Yes, here it is. To paraphrase this section, half of this book can be read by those with wizarding blood in their veins. The other half by those who have been recognized as shinigami. I have already read the first half, of course, however the second half of the book appears to be completely blank."

The book was passed around as Aizen continued to explain.

"This book is absolutely amazing," he told them. "It tells us everything we need to know about the shinigami: their secrets, their strengths, their powers, their weaknesses..."

Impressed murmurs rose from the table.

"Amazing," Percy Weasley breathed, examining the diagrams on zanpakutou.

Cornelius was deep in thought. He had long since suspected Dumbledore of turning the Hogwarts students against him and the Ministry. With Dolores now stationed at the school, he had hoped to put a halt to this potential uprising. However, now that he had all this information on shinigami, perhaps he could make himself look like the 'good guy' in their eyes...

"So Aizen," the Ministry began slowly, "can any of these spells or tactics be used against wizards?"

Aizen could have rolled his eyes. His boss's plans couldn't have been more obvious.

"No," he answered him. "They only apply to shinigami."

In full confidence that none of this could be used against him, the Minister set his idea of an incredibly clever plan into action. _Through this battle, the wizarding world will unite as one... with me at the head of it all. I shall be the one and only king, Dumbledore. Good luck in trying to change that!_

And as these thoughts ran through his head, the Minister was completely unaware that he was in fact just a mere pawn in the true game. A game in which he had no chance of even becoming a player.

00000

"So, Toushiro," Hermione began casually, "what kind of story is behind those bracelets you guys wear?"

Toushiro's nose twitched upwards in what could possibly have been his version of an annoyed grimace. Hermione had recently taken to bombarding him and his teammates with questions about their supposed past. Several of these questions included where the geographical location of their school was, how long the shinigami had known one another for, their relatives, how they had met, and what kind of magic they had been learning.

At first it had made him wary, but it later became nothing more than a daily annoyance. He had long since concluded that Hermione either suspected them of something, or was simply the nosiest person he had ever met in his long life.

"When we wear them, we can speak English," Toushiro said shortly and continued to eat his cereal. Hermione was about to interrogate him further when the Daily Prophet arrived. At the same time, the other shinigami as well as Ron and Harry joined them at the table.

"What're _you_ looking at, kid?" Renji snarled at one of the many boys who was noticeably staring at Rukia.

"N-nothing..."

"Well then keep it that way." The boy obediently turned around, shaking, and stared at his plate silently for the remainder of breakfast. He would later develop a speech impediment in his adult life due to the incident and lose his job because of it.

Even though it had been a little over a couple weeks since their arrival, the new students would still cause many heads to turn in the corridors and during mealtimes. It didn't help matters much that the famous Harry Potter was almost always with them as well.

"What a doll..."

"They don't make 'em like _that_ in this country, eh?"

"It's like she's a perfect drawing that some artist created..."

Ichigo rolled his eyes and kept walking as if he didn't care. Rukia felt a flash of irritation show on her face from his reaction, but otherwise didn't react. Renji continued to stare down almost every single male in the area.

_What is going on with those three...?_ Toushiro wondered, observing their actions. _Well, as long as it doesn't interfere with the mission, I suppose I'll let it slide for now._

Just as the entire gang was seated, Hermione let out a loud gasp as she saw the front page of the Prophet. Immediately Harry and Ron leaned over to see what she had read. Dolores Umbridge's large, flabby face grinned back up at them from a photo.

_DOLORES UMBRIDGE APPOINTED FIRST EVER HOGWARTS HIGH INSPECTOR_

Several jaws dropped at once.

"Umbridge- 'High Inspector'? What does _that _mean?" said Harry darkly, casting a hateful glance towards said professor. "Read the article, Hermione."

Hermione began, "_In a surprise move last night the Ministry of Magic passed a new legislation giving itself an unprecedented level of control at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Dolores Umbridge had been appointed the teaching of Defence Against the Dark Arts by the Ministry as of August 31__st__, when the current Headmaster of Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore, was unable to find a suitable candidate for the post."_

"Skip the introductions, Hermione," Ichigo said impatiently. "What kind of power does she get now?"

"Um, let's see..." Hermione scanned the article rapidly. "To summarize it, she gets to eliminate any Hogwarts teacher she- or rather, the Ministry- wants. She's also supposed to make sure that any Educational Decrees set by the Ministry are followed, and apparently she's already been a "huge success" at Hogwarts-"

"WHAT?"

"-and now the curriculum in her class will be teaching us about shinigami!" Hermione finished with awe. Everyone blinked in shock. "The next article is about Sosuke Aizen," she continued, looking up at the exchange students. She cleared her throat to read a passage from the article.

"_When asked where he obtained the information about shinigami, Aizen told the Prophet the full story. 'It was complete chance, really,' Aizen shrugged modestly. 'I met a man who was clearly not human, nor was he any other being known to wizardkind, a few months ago outside of Gringotts. When I had pieced together what he was- one of the fabled shinigami my father used to tell me about- he attacked me. The street was empty at the time, but by sheer luck I managed to subdue him.'"_

Hermione paused. "Basically, this shinigami was carrying a book with him that he was going to deposit in Gringotts. The book contained a bunch of secrets about the shinigami and he predicts now that we know about them, they are going to reveal themselves to us soon."

"A... book?" Ichigo repeated, his forehead creasing as if he were trying to recall a distant memory. Then all of a sudden something seemed to dawn on him in realization.

_Yes Kurosaki, you're right,_ Toushiro thought to himself, looking at Ichigo. _The book they are talking about is the one that you personally helped Aizen steal three months ago._

"So the Ministry's pitting us against an enemy that may or may not exist so that we can all just forget about Voldemort, then?" Harry said angrily.

"Well it's better than sitting in a classroom reading a book about defending yourself for the rest of the year," Ron shrugged. "I mean, we wanted to know more about shinigami anyway, right?"

"Yes, but anything the Ministry tells us should be taken with a grain of salt," Hermione added.

Rukia finally spoke. "So we're not just going to learn theory anymore?" Hermione found the section again on what Umbridge would be teaching and nodded at Rukia.

"Whatever happened to learning in a 'risk-free environment'?" Renji snorted sarcastically.

"Well apparently the spells they're going to teach us can't affect wizards," Hermione answered, her eyes glued to the paper. "So I suppose their reasoning is that even if we're taught defensive spells, they can't be used against the Ministry."

"Is the wizarding world always this complicated?" sighed Ichigo.

"You have no idea," Hermione replied grimly.

00000

Umbridge didn't come to their Potions class, but that didn't make it any less miserable than usual. Toushiro, Rukia and Hermione finished their Elixir of Elongation perfectly, though Malfoy somehow managed to get the house points- the ideal end of their exhausting class.

Halfway through the lesson, Ron had gotten forty-five points taken off for Gryffindor when he'd 'accidentally' spilled a puddle of Hermione's potion on the surface of the table they were working at, causing it to immediately extend at lightning speed to the other end of the classroom. Draco, unfortunately, had been standing up, and the table- which went up to Hermione's waist while standing- had happened to hit him in an area that had caused him extreme discomfort.

Coincidentally, the incident had occurred right after Draco had been insulting Ron about his new position on the Gryffindor team ("Where did you find your broom, Weasley? I could have sworn we threw out the exact same one... ten years ago!") The consequences could have been worse, but there was no evidence that it had been anything more than an accident on Ron's part.

After the incident, Rukia had noticed Seamus and Dean stealing some of Hermione's perfectly made elixir and storing it in their pockets, whispering that they could make a bucketful of galleons if they sold a drop to every boy in their dormitory. Rukia hadn't understood what that had meant, but she ignored them anyway.

History of Magic was basically considered a free period by all of them, and the fifth-year Gryffindors mainly discussed what Defence Against the Dark Arts would be like and the Ministry's involvement at Hogwarts. Umbridge wasn't in that class either.

After lunch, they had Divination. To everyone's relief, Umbridge again wasn't present. However, it was unfortunately inevitable that they would all have to see her during her own class.

Despite that fact, though, many of the students were actually looking forward to this class. Professor Umbridge still told them to put their wands away, but instead of telling them to read their textbooks, she began the introduction to their course on shinigami. The class was silent, listening to everything she was saying. They had a common enemy now.

"Shinigami are actually beings that were once one of us," Umbridge mentioned about halfway through their lesson. Murmurings of amazement went around the class.

"Then why do they want to kill us?" Dean blurted out suspiciously. Surprisingly, Umbridge didn't reprimand him for not raising his hand. Instead, she had what was supposed to be a sad look, Ichigo supposed.

"It is believed that there is a corrupting force that occurs from the time they are human to the time when they become shinigami. We will have answers soon, I'm sure," Umbridge smiled sickly. "As we continue to analyze our information sources, more revelations are coming to light by the hour."

After class had ended, everyone immediately began speaking all at once excitedly. It was the same in the corridors and in the Great Hall too. All anyone could talk about were the shinigami.

_Not good,_ Toushiro thought.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione were talking about it too.

"It's funny how everyone totally forgets about Voldemort's existence once the shinigami are brought into the picture," Harry frowned.

"It's exactly what the Ministry wants, of course," Hermione told him.

"Don't forget, the shinigami could be on Voldemort's side, mate," Ron added. "Maybe this is even better for us."

Somewhere behind them, a couple of seventh-years were excitedly talking about shinigami as well.

"You hear about those zanpakutou? Aren't those totally sick?"

The real shinigami, caught in the middle of it all, were shocked. Distracted, Rukia missed a step going down and tripped.

"Jeez, watch where you're going, midget," Ichigo grunted. He'd caught her in his arms before she'd fallen.

Rukia inexplicably turned red. "I'm perfectly fine, you can let go of me now." She shoved him off of her and ignored a couple watching girls sighing in jealousy.

"They know about zanpakutou? How much more could they know?" whispered Ichigo to Toushiro.

"Not here, Kurosaki. The real challenge starts today. You'll need to be a hundred times more careful than you have been." He was in a dark mood.

The four shinigami tried to ignore everyone at dinner, but all of them were incredibly nervous and jumpy. Finally, Rukia got up.

"I can't take this anymore," she said. "I'm going back to the common room."

_You're going to need to brace yourself if you can't handle even this much, Kuchiki, _Toushiro predicted. _It's going to get worse, and you won't be able to stay in that common room forever._

"Oh right, we have another detention today, Ichigo," Harry realized, his fork freezing in mid-air.

"Aw man, I totally forgot," Ichigo groaned. "Come on, let's go. I want to get back as soon as possible."

The two boys left to go to Umbridge's office.

"How's your hand?" Ichigo asked sympathetically.

Harry shrugged. "It's not bad. I can deal with it, so long as I don't get any more detentions after this week."

"You probably won't," Ichigo surmised, "seeing as how _exciting_ her classes are now."

"She's still evil," Harry said. "But you're right, it's all anyone can talk about."

Umbridge greeted them at the door with pretend warmth. Surprisingly enough, tonight there were two desks laden with a large stack of paper. Ichigo frowned.

"So we're writing lines again, then?" he said.

"Oh yes," Umbridge nodded gravely. "I find that writing lines are the most effective way to get a point across."

She opened her desk drawer and pulled out two quills. She handed the black Blood Quill to Harry and gave a brand new red one to Ichigo.

"This one just came in yesterday," she said pleasantly. "It was recommended to me by a friend of mine." Confused, Ichigo examined it, but it looked just like the Blood Quill- besides the fact it was red.

"_By the way, Dolores..." Aizen smiled at her as they walked to the elevators together after the meeting had finished. "Did you deal with that boy like I told you to?"_

"_Ah, Mr. Kurosaki?" Umbridge grinned. "Yes, I made him write what you told me. He acted exactly as you had said. How did you know?"_

"_Know what? That he would try to protect Mr. Potter, you mean? Well, he is my former student, after all. What kind of teacher would I be if I didn't know my pupils?" Aizen smirked. "Seeing as the Blood Quills didn't work and you still have quite a few detentions with him left, I've got something that will work even better on him."_

_Dolores giggled like a schoolgirl. "You've got me looking forward to the next detention now, Sosuke."_

Ichigo wrote the first few lines. They appeared, not in his blood, but in a shiny blue ink that almost looked like it was glowing.

_I will obey orders._

_I will obey orders._

_I will_-

"Ugh!" Ichigo grunted suddenly. He was definitely feeling weaker than he had been a few minutes earlier.

"Are you okay?" Harry asked worriedly. He had no idea what the quill was doing to Ichigo, but he was sure that- like the Blood Quill- Umbridge had made sure it wasn't pleasant. Ichigo had managed to defy her once, but she would make sure it wouldn't happen again.

"Anything wrong, Mr. Kurosaki?" said Umbridge with too much satisfaction to sound truly concerned.

"Nah, I'm feeling great," he replied with a glower in her direction. He continued to write his lines, feeling fainter with every stroke.

The blue ink never seemed to dry. It continued to sparkle on the page. The colour looked a bit like... Ichigo gaped. There was no way Umbridge would have something like that, though. Because no wizard could possibly be in possession of a quill that sucked out reiatsu.

"Professor," Ichigo started. "Who did you say gave this quill to you?"

"Why, a colleague of mine," she said innocently. "In fact, I believe you two knew each other. Mr. Sosuke Aizen."

Harry stopped writing. That was the man who was practically at the head of the war against the shinigami, the man that the new students seemed to despise.

Ichigo surprised the both of them by laughing out loud.

"Ha ha, is that so? If you see him again, tell him his favourite student wants to get together sometime soon!"

"I shall indeed," Umbridge said.

Ichigo started to write again. He had no idea how Aizen had created the quill. It was one think to suck out reiatsu, like Zaraki's eye patch, but somehow this quill was sucking out so much at a time it was able to turn it into a solid form. On top of that, he was still in his human body, which made it that much worse. It didn't look like much when he finished his first sheet, but he was already so exhausted he felt like someone had been eating up his spirit energy for decades.

After about five full sheets of paper his breathing got heavier, as did his eyelids. Keeping himself from fainting was about the most he could do. Against his will, the quill fell from his twitching hand and sat innocently on the desk.

Umbridge looked shamelessly pleased. "That's all for today. Don't forget to come back same time tomorrow." The session ended about an hour earlier than the other days, but as Harry watched Ichigo stumble out of the office weakly, he wondered if any more could have killed him.

Harry offered to help Ichigo, staggering like a drunkard, back to the common room, which he gladly accepted.

"What did that quill do to you?" Harry asked him.

"Nothing... special," was the only response he got, but Ichigo looked so tired he didn't question any further. Supporting the tall Ichigo was difficult for Harry, and it took a while for them to get by, but after only about five minutes, Rukia and Renji came running up to them.

"Ichigo!" Rukia said loudly. She lifted his head and stared at him. His eyes were closed and he was hardly conscious. "Harry, what happened?"

"That woman made him write with a new quill, I have no idea what it did to him," Harry explained, his expression pained.

"Ichigo. Ichigo, wake up," Renji commanded him. When Ichigo didn't answer, he lifted him on his back effortlessly. "I'll take him to the hospital wing," he said. "Harry, get to the common room. Hermione's got something for your hand."

"I'll come with you," Harry insisted, shoving his writing hand in his pocket and out of sight.

"We're not... going... anywhere..." Ichigo wheezed, looking more alert now.

"Ichigo!" Rukia hurriedly put her hand to his forehead, as if feeling for a fever. "We're going to take you to the hospital wing, don't move."

"No!" Ichigo said, more harshly this time. "Look, I'm fine." He climbed off Renji's back despite everyone's protests and straightened up.

* * *

**And, uh... thats all i have so far ^^"**

**Sorry, everyone, this was all written like months ago, but i just didn't have the heart to upload it :/**

**Unfortunately, i only did upload it because i didn't want to get everyone's hopes up that there would be a new chapter and then just have a huge author's note :P (i hate when authors do that. like, your hopes get all high when you get the email, and then they're just like "whoops, no. the story's done. g2g.")**

**So yeah, you've all probably guessed by now, but I just wanted to give you some closure. This story is UNOFFICIALLY CANCELLED!**

**which means, this story will MOST LIKELY be finished, unless i feel the creative juices flowin' again some time soon :P**

**So, this also means people have full permission to continue this, if they'd like, or take ideas from this, or write another version similar. Just make sure to CREDIT me please, and i'd like you to send me a message too so i can read it :) oh, and don't directly plagiarize, either.  
**

**That's all for now, folks! maybe i'll write again next week, maybe not till the world ends! sorry again, but thank you to all of you wonderful readers and reviewers who've been reading since the beginning! Uggh i feel bad.  
**

**But keep reviewing anyway peeps, it's great to know i have readers :D**** SO LONG  
**


End file.
